Love's a Risky Business
by FannyT
Summary: AU: Sango is new in town and has to start a new school. But at the school she has chosen, things aren't exactly as she is used to. It's not the teachers who are in charge and everything seems to be upside down. Not to mention the people who go there...
1. If you won't risk anything

My first Alternative Universe fic! Sorry if it's very weird, feel free to write to me and vent your fury…

I want to apologize on beforehand for Shippou, who is insanely out of character. Actually, the only thing I kept was his name, and the colour of his hair. Think of it as an extraordinary coincidence that this strange boy, a fabricate of my _weird_ imagination, is called Shippou too. Or something. 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters in this story… or wait a minute… I do. Some of them are purely of my own invention. But all the ones you recognize aren't owned by me… well, you know. And I won't put any more disclaimers in this story, it's boring to write it before every goddamn chapter. This is the big disclaimer, and it should last through the entire story. 

If you won't risk anything…

It was the first day of school. Sango Gari stood before the gates of Sunset Highschool. She had just moved and was new in town, with no friends and no one to look to if things got too scary. But hey – if you won't risk anything you can't win anything, right?

Taking a deep breath, Sango walked in through the gates and up to the school. Well inside she found her way to the principal's office easily, following the huge neon-blue signs saying "OFFICEà", "COME THIS WAY" and "YOU CAN'T MISS IT". In a matter of minutes she stood before Mr Higurashi, principal of Sunset High.

"Ah… miss Gari, I take it? You are very welcome to this school. Did you have a hard time finding the office?"

"Well…no," said Sango, feeling a bit confused. "I just followed the blue signs… They showed the way very well, it's not as if they were hard to see…" The principal regarded her with an equally confused expression and then put a hand to his forehead and called out to his secretary,

"Miss Lime, send for Shippou, would you? And call my doctor and place an order for another two packets of headache pills."

"Roger," called the secretary and Mr Higurashi turned his attention back to Sango, looking at her in silence for a long while. 

"Do you believe in Student Rights, miss Gari?" he asked suddenly, making her jump. "Were you a member of the Student Council at your last school? Are you fond of standing up for the majority of students, speaking with the voice of democracy to convince the teachers of what needs to be done?"

"No," said Sango blandly. She had always stood up for herself, but as for speaking for a whole school, all with different opinions…the idea had never seemed tempting.

"Good," snapped Mr Higurashi. "That is not needed here."

He turned away from her and walked over to the open window, leaning out and looking down into the school grounds. 

"You will find, miss Gari, that at this school it is not the teachers who are in charge and rule over the students – it is rather the other way around. Legend has it that once in the school's glorious beginning a witch put a spell on the entire school, sentencing it to live in constant anarchy…"

Sango, who had started to feel a bit freaked out when the principal's eyes unfocused (somewhere around the word "legend"), cleared her throat loudly. Mr Higurashi twitched and turned back around, looking surprised to find her still there.

"Oh yes… you have to get someone to show you around and things like that, don't you? Well, just wait outside here and I'll see if I can find someone for you."

Sango sat down in a chair in the secretary's office, seriously considering to run home and apply for another school. This place seemed like a total nuthouse – the principal at least was a cracked case if she ever saw one.

'Well, he might have been exaggerating about the rest of the school… some kind of neurotic problem, of course. Agoraphobia or such. I'll stay for the rest of this first day and check it out. If it's as bad as Mr. Crackpot here says, there's no point going here.'

At that moment the door was kicked open and a boy who seemed to be in her own age or a little older stepped into the office. He was dressed in a pair of pants that might once have been part of a school uniform but now resembled nothing more than a piece of abstract art, and a singlet that had fared about as well as the pants – ripped, torn, splashed with paint in every colour of the rainbow. His red hair was done in dreadlocks and gathered together in a short, fat ponytail almost at the top of his head. He had paintbrushes sticking out of his front and back pockets and neon-blue paint on his nose.

"Yo, Princie-Pal!" he yelled, grinning and yanking the door to Mr Higurashi's office open. "You know we needed signs to point out the way to the office, it's a freaking maze!"

"Come in, why don't you, Shippou?" said the principal calmly. As Shippou stepped in and let the door close behind him, Sango thought she could hear Mr Higurashi say,

"It's just the colour. Did it have to be blue?"

She turned to stare at the secretary, who smiled sweetly.

"He's such a talented boy."

                                                        *************

A quarter of an hour later Sango was still sitting in the same chair, and starting to become a little annoyed. The secretary, seeing her unrest, smiled kindly and gave her a small wink. 

"He is a bit absentminded, the old dear," she confided, and then yelled,

"Higurashi!"

Mr Higurashi stuck his head out of the door.

"Still here? Oh yes, I think there was a spot of trouble with finding someone to show you around. You'll just have to grab someone yourself in the corridor."

"But – " Sango began and was interrupted when the principal started to shoo her towards the door.

"Now, now, don't be nervous. He who won't risk anything can't win anything, remember that!" And with that he shut the door in her face. 

"WHAAAAT?!!" She felt like screaming. What the hell was this place? And how dare he use _her_ proverb?

She turned around and started marching down the corridor, weaving through the students with expertise. She had decided – this was _not_ the school for her. She would go back out, she would hail a cab or something, she would go home and call her dad and then she – 

"Ooof!" She had walked straight into someone, almost knocking them over. She felt her cheeks begin to flush and muttered an apology, intending to go on her way. However, her plans were ruined. 

"But you're a new girl!" said an oh-so-cheery voice. The kind of voice that would have made you want to strangle the owner, if it hadn't been so painfully obvious that the owner in question was more innocent than anything put on this earth, with the possible exception of small fluffy bunnies.

Sango looked up and saw that the voice belonged to the boy she had run into. He had brown hair and eyes and a face that positively radiated honesty and naivety. 

"How did you know I'm new?"

"You're in uniform," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm Hojo. You haven't gotten anyone to show you around yet, have you? It's no problem, I've got some spare time." Sango found herself being pulled along. Somehow it seemed impossible to break free of his well-meaning chatter and endless stream of information.

"…So this is where you'll have your locker, for a padlock you see Bunny in class 3FX7… Let's see that folder, yep, you're going to have English in here… and here is the CAFETERIA, haven for the needy. Come on, let's grab a soda." He dropped a couple of coins in a machine and handed her a can. Then he dragged her out into the grounds, still talking about anything under the sun.

"Yo, Hojo!" called a voice suddenly. "Bring the newbie over here!"

"Ah, great!" smiled Hojo, leading Sango over to a group of people sitting on a table. "These are some of my best friends, so you'll be in good hands. I have to go now but I'll see you tomorrow in P.E.!" 

"How do you feel?" laughed the girl who had called out to them after Hojo left, looking at Sango. "Breathless, huh?"

Sango nodded numbly and the girl laughed again.

"Hojo does that to you. Heart of gold, but kind of scary sometimes. The best part is that he'll have memorized your entire timetable by now, and if you ever look lost he's going to pop up, saying "Oh, your class is on my way. I'll take you there." You'll get used to it after a while. My name's Kagome, by the way." She stuck out her hand and Sango shook it.

"I'm Sango," she said.

"Ahh… A beautiful name for a beautiful girl!" said the guy on Kagome's right, taking Sango's hand and shaking it as well, holding on to it a bit longer than necessary. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and had several earrings and hair that was just long enough to fit in a ponytail. Also, he was gorgeous.

Sango could feel a blush coming on and was saved by Kagome, who seized a book and hit the boy in the head.

"Behave! She's new! Don't mind him, Sango, his mother didn't hug him often enough when he was a kid, thus he grew up to be like this."

"You are wrong, Kagome, my mother did hug me quite a lot. It was kisses I was lacking. Would you like to make up for it, Sango?" He grinned at her, and was once again hit by Kagome's book.

"His name's Miroku, by the way. And this is Inu-yasha." She jerked her thumb towards the white-haired boy on her left. 

"Yo," said Inu-yasha, not lifting his eyes from the little boat he was carving from a piece of wood – with a knife the length of his own forearm. 

"So how are you finding things at the school?" asked Kagome, apparently not noticing Sango's shocked stare. "How much did Gramps tell you?"

"Gramps?"

"My last name is Higurashi."

"Oh. Um, he said it was total anarchy here," said Sango hesitantly, drawing her eyes away from Inu-yasha. "So I'm thinking about leaving."

"Leaving?!" shouted Kagome and Miroku simultaneously. Inu-yasha didn't even look up. "Are you nuts?"

"Well, I want to learn and get into a good college," Sango answered, feeling a little flustered. God, she was sounding like some kind of goody-two-shoes… "I've always wanted to become a doctor, and if I can't learn stuff here I won't manage in college and that's why I don't think this school is for me. I need a proper school."

Both Kagome and Miroku relaxed visibly and started smiling.

"Oh, is _that_ all you're worried about," said Miroku. "Then it's no prob."

"See, we still have normal classes," Kagome explained. "No point going to school otherwise, is there? And we have tests, and grades. Everyone knows they have to study, so everyone studies. But we can choose our methods of studying to suit ourselves. If we don't like a teacher then we tell them how we want them to teach, or fire the teacher and hire a new one. And we don't have any rules. Who needs rules? You can pretty much figure out on your own what you can and can't do, right?"

"You've heard of Student Democracy, haven't you?" asked Miroku. Sango nodded, of course she had. Only at her old school it didn't really work out – the students gave complaints and suggestions to the teachers alright, and so far all was good. The only trouble was that the teachers didn't listen.

"Well, at this school we cut out the teachers and do everything ourselves. It's not a bad system."

"So the education is still the same…?" Sango asked.

"That's right," grinned Kagome. "So how about it? Are you gonna try it?"

"Yeah, I think I will… for a while at least." She grinned as the others laughed, and Kagome slapped her on the back, saying,

"All _right_!"

…because if you won't risk anything, you can't win anything, either.


	2. All play and no work? Classes begin

All play and no work? Classes begin…

"Attention, class!"

It was the next day and classes had begun for Sango. She had taken a tip from Kagome and changed her bulky school uniform shirt for a cooler and more comfortable singlet top. This had brought catcalls from Miroku until Kagome threw an ink bottle at his head. 

Sango's first class was Art, where she had no company of anyone she recognized. Kagome was in the year under the others and neither Miroku nor Inu-yasha had Art. The vacant seat beside her didn't stay empty for long however – just after the lesson had started someone casually slid into it. A red-haired, paint-stained someone. 

"You're the new girl who was in the office yesterday, aren't you?" asked Shippou, looking at her with sparkling eyes. "I'm impressed. Not many who talked to Princie-Pal the first thing they did have stayed on."

"Well, I got picked up by Hojo…"

"Oh, that explains it. He's got enough enthusiasm for a squad of cheerleaders. Now, what did Darling Dorla tell us to do?"

'Darling Dorla?' thought Sango, bemused. 'Oh, the teacher.'

"To draw a forest fire as it would look if it was underwater, the trees grew upside-down and the sky above was made of marmalade… wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense!"

"Does it have to?" Shippou was already at work with his picture.

"It's Art," he continued, "it doesn't matter what you do as long as you do it with your soul."

'My soul? The nuthouse is cracking now, ohh boy is it cracking.'

On the other hand… ever since kindergarten she had wanted to try finger painting. Before her stood twenty cans of different coloured paint. Rich, fat oil paint. She looked at them longingly. What the hell…

'Free my soul,' she thought, dipped her fingers in the orange can and started painting.

After the lesson she exited the classroom with Shippou, who had promised to help her find Bunny. It turned out that class 3FX7 was in their Final Year. Shippou was in his last year, too, but he went to all Art lessons possible – even those in younger age levels – and that was why he had been at Sango's lesson. He wanted to become an artist.

'No surprise there,' Sango thought to herself.

Bunny turned out to be a tall, good-looking girl, looking a bit haughty but being very sweet. She had a tendency to speak with a lot of endearments. 

"Why are you in charge of this?" Sango asked as the girl opened her locker and frowned at the cloud of dust that came from it. "Isn't that supposed to be taken care of by the teachers, or in the office, or something?"

"Well honey, this is the way we do it here," Bunny said, diving into a large bag and tossing Sango a padlock, "we rule, the teachers hide. The staff does paperwork and stuff, but everything important is taken care of by the students. If there's something that needs doing, do it – if you can't do it, send it on to someone who can. For example, when Shippou darling here decided that we needed signs to show the way to the office he made signs. Or when Flex saw that the plumbing was screwed up he hired a guy to fix it. The school paid, of course, but Flex organized it. The teachers aren't in charge of things like that, and that's the way we want it. We manage on our own. After all, we're the ones who live with the problems in a school, so we know how it ought to be, right?"

"So you and Shippou and Flex, are you the Student Council or something?" asked Sango, making the older girl laugh.

"Lor', no, sweetie. We don't hold with doing organisations and shit. Everyone does what they can, you don't have to be in a Student Council to understand that something's screwy with the plumbing if the bathroom's drenched. Often when there is some sort of trouble people come to us soon-to-be-graduates, but that's only 'cos we've got the most experience. Here's your key, by the way." While she was talking Bunny had been going through an enormous ring of keys, and found the one belonging to Sango's lock.

"I have a spare key here if you ever need it. There should be some free lockers, just grab one that looks empty and you'll be OK. Now, do you know how to get to your next class?"

"Oh no!" Sango exclaimed. "I'm going to be late!" Bunny laughed cheerily. 

"That's not really a problem, here. Anyway, here comes someone I'm sure will be going your way."

Sure enough, Miroku came waltzing up the corridor with his arm around a pretty girl. He let her go with a flirty smile and then spotted Sango, grinned like a Cheshire cat and made his way over to her. 

"Ah, the ever beautiful Sango, prettiest new girl in town. Great, we'll have company to History! And how is the lovely Bunny today?" He lifted Bunny's hand to his lips and kissed it with a great show of gallantry, then snaked his arm around Sango's waist. 

"We have to get going!"

"And just WHAT… do you think you're doing?" she hissed after he had led her about halfway up the corridor, getting over the initial shock. Then she froze. His hand had just found its way to a place where it was _not_ welcome.

"Why, helping you get to your class, of course!" said Miroku innocently. 

"Oh. That's all?"

"Yes, unless you have a suggestion of what you'd like me to do…" 

"… well, for starters… GET YOUR BLOODY HAND OFF MY BUTT!!!"

                                                        *************

They arrived in class ten minutes late, Sango still fuming and Miroku sporting a nice red mark on his cheek. Inu-yasha looked up when they entered and actually _grinned_. Sango took the seat next to him, turning her back on Miroku deliberately. 

"What?" she snarled. 

"Nothing." She looked at him suspiciously, but he didn't give away anything. He was still grinning though. She looked around for something else to vent her anger on.

"Why isn't he noting my late appearance in class?" she asked grumpily, indicating the teacher, determined to be annoyed about everything possible. 

"Because it ain't important," said Inu-yasha casually. When she gave him a quizzical look he sighed and reluctantly elaborated,

"It's your own stupid fault if you're late to class, you won't learn as much and you'll have more to do to catch up. He doesn't note it because it's up to yourself."

Sango thought about this for a while.

"What about talking in class? Doesn't he care about that either? And bullying, I just realized, who sees to that things like that don't happen if the teachers don't?"

"Well, the rest of us, of course. If anyone sees something that is seriously off – a bunch of kids picking on another kid, for example – they will break it up. And the punishment for serious bullying is just a little bit worse here than just writing lines in detention. As for talking in class, well, the school builds mainly on respect. You just don't do stuff that might bother others. And if you do – "

"Yasha, shut it!" shouted a voice from the back of the class. 

" – someone will sooner or later get on your ass about it," Inu-yasha finished in a whisper. 

Sango grinned to herself. This school seemed weirder by the minute, but she liked it. She liked the way it built on respect for others. She liked the way everyone was free to solve their problems in their own way. She liked the way the school – although it was very different from her earlier schools – still offered proper studies and for her, the chance to go to a college if she did well. 

What she liked most of all was the freedom. 

'I think I might be happy here,' she thought. 

"Hey dearest, are you as smart as you are pretty? Can you help me understand what this means? Have a…private lesson with me, maybe?" She turned to see Miroku grinning at her. 

…then again, there were things about this school she could definitely do without. 


	3. I am not weak!

I am not weak! 

She ate lunch with Kagome, Inu-yasha and joy of all joys, Miroku. He kept making suggestive remarks until she grew so fed up that she chucked her padlock at his head. He laughed, but he also shut his mouth after that.

"I'm glad you're gonna stay on!" said Kagome, smiling cutely. There was something about that girl that made Sango wonder if she was for real – a kind of endless optimism and an open way with strangers that made it hard not to like her. 

"Yeah, well, gotta try it, right?" Sango answered, grinning back. "I've never gone to a school like this before. Hey, how did you guys get to know each other, by the way? I mean, when you're one year younger, Kagome."

"Inu-yasha introduced me to her," said Miroku. 

There was a long pause.

"And…?" prompted Sango, looking at Kagome.

"We met outside school," said Kagome. Suddenly she had shut like a clam, not giving out anything about herself. Sango waited for a while before realizing that they would not give her any more information, then shrugged. She had never been one to pry into other people's business.

…well, not openly, anyway. Spying was an entirely different matter.

"OK. Hey, it's P.E. after lunch, right?"

"Yeah," answered Miroku. "Me and Inu-yasha are both in your P.E. group."

"What?" Sango felt confused. Yet another weird thing in this school. "But I'm a girl!"

"Yeah, I've noticed," said Miroku, grinning widely and letting his eyes sweep over her body. She blushed furiously and he winked, going on,

"We have P.E. together, no one really wanted to split into girls/boys. If you remember when you applied, you had to answer a question of what level of P.E. you were interested in? Well, that's how we are sorted here. You chose the highest level, like me and Inu-yasha, so we're in the same group. Of course, if you ever feel like changing, it's not hard to switch between the different groups."

"Oookay… What's the teacher like?"

At her words Inu-yasha stood up and walked off. Kagome gave Sango an apologetic smile and stood up, too.

"Sensitive area. I'll go calm him down."

She left and Sango stared curiously at Miroku.

"The teacher's his brother," he explained, smiling in the same way as Kagome. "They're not on the best of terms. They like each other deep down but there's just this entire issue of brotherly enmity or something. Kagome knows how to soothe Inu-yasha though."

"Is it sneaky to ask," said Sango hesitantly, "what is going on between the two of them?" 

Miroku grinned broadly.

"You're starting to become like me, nosy little bugger. They like each other. As in       _like_-like. Although they usually don't make a big show out of it. I don't know how they met, and I've been wondering a bit about that too. Inu-yasha won't tell me anything – you might have noticed he's not the type of guy to tell anyone his problems or personal affairs. I think it has something to do with them having to work together for something, or something like that. Anyway, it's a part of their life they feel is very private."

"Oh," said Sango. They looked very good together, she thought, and she was a bit jealous of Kagome. But they seemed to carry some kind of secret that was hidden from all but themselves. Was that really nice to live with?

"Oh, they're a sneaky couple alright," said Miroku cheerfully. "Not telling anyone anything about their relationship. I mean, what could be so bad about the way they met? At least we won't have that problem." He winked at her as she gave him a funny look. What was he on about now?

"We'll be able to tell our grandchildren," he continued, with a teasing glint in his eyes. "Ah, it was a romantic meeting! I told her she was beautiful, she chucked something heavy at me, not knowing that in doing so, she gave me a lovely view down her shirt…"

At that moment she threw her unfinished plate of curry rice in his face.

Kagome and Inu-yasha arrived back to find a laughing Miroku picking rice out of his hair and wiping sauce of his face, and Sango sitting as far away from him as possible, growling. 

"Honestly, can't I trust you alone for two seconds?" asked Kagome disbelievingly. "I turn around and you're at full war! What did you do, Miroku?" She handed the boy her handkerchief and he took it gratefully, still laughing.

"Oh, Sango just doesn't take kindly to flattering," he said. Sango gave him her famous death glare, sending him into another fit of laughter.

"Come on, P.E. next," said Inu-yasha, pulling Miroku up by the neck of his shirt. "You can follow us, Sango, the girls' changing room is just beside ours. Kagome, I'll see you after school." He walked off and Sango followed, wondering if she should tell him that he was choking Miroku.

…nah.

She got changed with a lot of other girls, none of whom she recognized. She had decided to bring her own shorts instead of the ridiculously short ones that came with the school uniform – she had a feeling Miroku might die of laughter if she wore those. Either that, or she'd kill him herself. One more of his perverted remarks and she'd…

Once out of the changing room she looked for someone she knew. It wasn't hard – she spotted Inu-yasha's white hair immediately. Before she had time to join him however, someone came running up to her.

"Hello Sango!" said Hojo. "How has your first day been? Did you like your Art teacher? I think she is very good – had her for a while last year but then I switched to Drama. She's very unconventional, isn't she? I think that was what the students who hired her liked especially during the interview. Many people find it strange that the students hire the teachers themselves, but it's us who'll be taught by them so it's very logical, really. If there's anything you're wondering about by the way, anything you think is strange, just ask."

The way Hojo talked was amazing – how anyone could get so much said in so little time was beyond Sango. He seemed very nice, but she couldn't imagine spending too much time with him. It felt as if she might just die of suffocation. 

"Yeah, the teacher was good…" she said slowly. Hojo _beamed_.

"I'm glad you like her! I'm sure you're going to enjoy it here at this school. You're in the highest level of P.E., aren't you? We're going this way. There's Sesshoumaru, over there. He's our teacher." 

Sango looked up to see a young man in his early twenties gaze at her, as if sizing her up. He was very tall and good-looking, and had the same strange hair as Inu-yasha. If it hadn't been for the hair she probably wouldn't have seen that they were brothers though, because they didn't look a lot alike. 

She wrenched her eyes away from the man and sidled over to Inu-yasha and Miroku who, she noticed with satisfaction, was looking rather disappointed over how little leg she was showing.

"So that's your brother, huh?" she asked Inu-yasha, who flinched and glared at Miroku. 

"_Half_  brother."

"Oh."

"Listen up, everybody." Sesshoumaru spoke quietly, but everyone calmed down at once and became silent. Sango raised an eyebrow. 

'Nice control over the class… Anarchism or not, some things will never change, and some people will always be able to silence a class with a look.'

"For four weeks we're going to be working with martial arts," said Sesshoumaru, looking out over the group of students, his eyes resting once again a bit longer on Sango. "We will start this week with kickboxing. Divide into pairs and then gather around here." His eyes strayed to Inu-yasha and he added,

"Inu-yasha, if you would help me with the demonstration?" 

Inu-yasha's jaw clenched but he nodded and walked over to his brother. – Sorry, _half_  brother. Miroku sighed softly and turned to Sango. 

"Do I have the honour?"

"Wait, I think I…" Sango hesitated and looked around her. She had been meaning to pair up with a girl because all the guys looked rather strong, but…

"What, am I the only girl?"

"Yup," grinned Miroku. "We have had a few girls in this group before, but they all quit. It's up to you to break the trend. Will you partner me?"

Sango looked around herself, intending to ask Hojo, but he had coupled with a long-haired boy and didn't see her. Sighing, she turned back to Miroku.

"Alright. Touch me and you die."

"Honey, it's martial arts. We're supposed to touch each other."

"You don't have to look so happy about it."

"Miroku and the new girl, come here if you don't want to miss the demonstration," said Sesshoumaru pleasantly, although his words seemed to hide some unspoken menace. They hurried to join the others.

Sesshoumaru went through the steps slowly and carefully, explaining them thoroughly. He then sent them off to practise on their own. Inu-yasha practised with Sango and Miroku alternatively – although he hardly seemed to need it, being very good already. Sango took her time, going through the different moves one by one to make sure she understood them. She had never seen any of those moves before. 

"Alright, gather here again," said Sesshoumaru, clapping his hands once and effectively making all noise cease at once. When they had all gathered in front of him he turned his gaze on Sango.

"New girl, come up here. I'd like to see what you are capable of."

'What is this, some kind of test?' thought Sango angrily, frowning at her teacher. Surprisingly, Miroku came to her defence.

"Come off it Sesshoumaru, it's her second day in school and you want to test her? Give her some time!"

"Of course, I'm not forcing you," said Sesshoumaru, still speaking to Sango. "I'd merely like to see how fast you learn and how much you know already. But we can take that some other time, if you want."

"If she dares, you mean," muttered a voice somewhere to Sango's right quietly. She flinched and straightened up. 

"No, I'll do it now," she said, determined to show them she was not just some weak little girl. She was a Gari, damnit!

She walked up to Sesshoumaru and put her hands together, bowing slightly to show respect. He did the same.

Without warning she struck at his chest, but he dodged her blow easily and retaliated. She parried with both her hands and then brought her foot up to connect with his stomach, pushing him away from her. As soon as she had space to move she kicked with her other foot, aiming for his head and forcing him to duck. He raised an eyebrow, and someone in the group of watching students – she was pretty sure it was Miroku – whistled. 

She attacked swiftly again, missed, ducked his kick and punched him in the stomach. He stepped back a pace, but then kicked his foot up towards her face. Without thinking she grabbed hold of his ankle and twisted it, making him spin around in the air before landing on the ground with a loud smack.

There was a looong silence.

"Um, sorry…" said Sango nervously. "…I didn't mean to do that."

"You have trained a lot of martial arts before, haven't you?" asked Sesshoumaru calmly, standing up and feeling his nose carefully. 

"Well… yeah…"

"Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to perform that spectacular move. In fact, you wouldn't have been able to dodge my kick at all, and would currently be in possession of a nose in an even worse shape than mine."

"Then why did you do that?!" asked Miroku angrily, staring up at the older man with a strange look in his eyes. "You could have hurt her really bad!"

"I could see you had a lot of experience of martial arts training before," said Sesshoumaru, speaking to Sango and ignoring Miroku completely. "It was visible when you practised. However, these kickboxing moves I dare say were unfamiliar, isn't that right? You learned very fast, and for that you should have credit. But you have to separate the different sports. I don't want to see you doing a move like that again, unless we are training the sport that contains it. Are you with me?"

"Yes," said Sango, still feeling a bit ashamed of herself. 

"Now, as I strayed off the kickboxing path as well, this time it was acceptable. Well done, girl."

"Sango," she said, then shut her mouth quickly. Did she say that out loud?

"What?" asked Sesshoumaru, frowning slightly. 

"Her name's Sango, not girl," said Inu-yasha, glaring at his brother with his arms folded. Sango stared. Another one who was speaking up for her today. 

"Alright." Sesshoumaru shrugged his shoulders elegantly. "We will proceed with the next part of kickboxing. Sango, as you are already up here, perhaps you could assist in the demonstration?" She nodded, still surprised by what Inu-yasha had said.

"By the way," said Sesshoumaru quietly as they faced each other, ready to start demonstrating the next moves, "It was an unusually impressive kick you managed there, too. I dare say even Mr Koga shut his mouth. You'll do well in this level."

And Sesshoumaru smiled.


	4. Introducing Koga

Something I Ought To Have Explained Earlier: when text is written like this "hum hum" it's normal speech, but when it looks like this 'hum hum' it's only thought. You may have figured that out by yourself already, but I thought I'd mention it just to be sure. ;) Introducing Koga 

A week passed and Sango installed herself completely. She spent the lunch hours with Kagome, Inu-yasha and Miroku, and every lesson where they were in the same class with the later two. She was happy over having found herself new friends so easily.

"But why doesn't Hojo eat with us, too?" she asked one day. "He said the first day that you were some of his best friends." 

"For Hojo, "best friends" is a very wide expression," smiled Kagome. "Practically everyone is his best friend. He's as happy with the kiddos in their first year as with the people in their final. And everyone's happy to be with him, too. He's just a really likeable guy."

Sango's family sometimes asked her about her school, but she didn't elaborate much. She had a feeling her academic father wouldn't like the idea of a school where the students themselves decided about lessons and teachers. He had always pressured her to do well in school – not that she minded it, she liked studying. She wondered about her younger brother Sota though, who had never had the same natural talent for reading. He was going to some other school, an all boys' school where he had a friend since before, and he looked a bit gloomy every time their father brought the subject of studying up. 

Lessons went well for Sango, and she could soon see that the pace was just as high as in her old school – even higher in some areas, actually. She was terribly behind in English, but had on the other hand read more maths than any in her class. Miroku took this as an excuse to sit beside her and copy her answers, while squeezing her knees at the same time. Needless to say, she hit him hard every time.

On the Tuesday of Sango's second week at Sunset High, she arrived out into the grounds for lunch to find Kagome talking to a long-haired boy she thought she recognized, Inu-yasha looking mighty annoyed about something and Miroku holding back silent laughter. She walked over to them, set her lunch down on the table and looked at Miroku, willing him to tell her what was going on. 

"Ah, Sango!" said Kagome when she saw that the other girl had arrived. "Koga, this is Sango, whom I was telling you about the other day."

Koga let his eyes travel up and down Sango, _snorted_, and turned back to Kagome. Sango seethed, reaching out for something heavy.

"Koga, you're being terribly rude." There was no change in Kagome's voice, but her smile had become rather dangerous and there was a glint in her eyes that Sango definitely didn't like. Koga seemed to have noticed it too, and looked at Sango disdainfully.

"Hello."

"Hi," Sango growled, then sat down beside Miroku and ignored the other boy. She had just realized where she had seen him before – he was the guy who had hinted that she was too scared to fight Sesshoumaru during her first P.E. lesson. 

"Bastard," she said under her breath. Miroku heard her and grinned. 

"So Kagome, won't you go with me to the movies this Saturday?" Koga asked. Inu-yasha drew his knife out of its sheath and started inspecting the chinks in the blade casually. At this Miroku started laughing quietly, blocking his mouth with his hand. 

"Er… no, I don't think I will," said Kagome, looking apologetic but firm. "We have tried that before and it didn't work out."

"I can't believe you chose _him_," said Koga, throwing Inu-yasha a disgusted look. The latter threw the knife into the table, making it stick in the wood an inch from Koga's hand. He smirked.

"Lucky, Koga?"

"Feh," Koga snorted and stood up. "I'll ask you again some other time, Kagome. Sooner or later I think you will understand that a weakling like him never will make you happy."

He left and Miroku stood up quickly, grabbing a hold around Sango's wrist. 

"Shall we go and see about that History homework then, Sango? Don't worry, Kagome, Inu-yasha, you don't have to come with us."

"Mmf?" said Sango as Miroku dragged her away, her mouth full of sandwich. She swallowed and asked again, "What?"

"They have to be alone for a while, I think Inu-yasha's just about ready to kill someone and I'm not anxious for that someone to be me."

"What's with Koga?"

"He's really into Kagome…"

"Oh, really?? Could have fooled me."

"…and he and Inu-yasha have been fighting about it for a long while. Koga's too stupid to see that Kagome likes Inu-yasha, and Inu-yasha is too stupid to realize that Kagome isn't about to leave him for some second-rate punk. Oh, God…" Miroku started laughing again and sank down on the floor, leaning against the wall. "Those two… they crack me up alright. Have you ever seen so much testosterone in two guys? Jesus, they're pathetic."

Sango started grinning, too, as she recalled the look on both of their faces. 

"They put on a great show, didn't they?"

"Oh yes," laughed Miroku, "The drama! Ooh, the knife in the table! They're fantastic! Some day I think I'm going to have to tell that boy what an absolute ass he makes of himself, but on the other hand – miss this show? Ah, they are just about the – " 

"Ahem," said Inu-yasha, staring down at Miroku with an expression that was very hard to read. Miroku's grin vanished. 

"Eh, hi, Inu-yasha… er… Oh lord, Sango, look at the time! We have to get to English! Bye, Inu-yasha, I'll see you in the next class!" He grabbed Sango's hand and sprinted off, leaving his friend fuming silently. They stopped after running down two corridors and turning three corners. 

"Ooh, that was close," Miroku panted. "I don't want to know what he would have done to me if he had the chance…"

"You're as nuts as everyone else in this school," giggled Sango. "And did you notice that it's twenty minutes until the class starts?"

"I can think of ways to pass the time…"

"PERVERT!"

And so when they arrived in class twenty minutes later, Miroku's cheek was bright red and Sango was looking furious.

"But you practically _asked_ for it!" grinned Miroku.

                                                        *************

"Go where on Saturday?" asked Sango, securing the telephone between her ear and her shoulder and reaching for a piece of paper and a pen. "The beach? Yeah, sure. Mm-hm. Wait a minute… is Miroku coming?"

Kagome laughed at the other end of the line. 

"Yeah, so don't wear a bikini, for your own good if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean," said Sango darkly, then said her goodbyes and hung up. She stretched and sighed, looking at the picture taken one week earlier, at a party held by her friends to celebrate that she had been at the school for one month. In the picture Miroku had his arm around her waist and was looking down at her with a charming smile, and she was for some reason smiling back. (She had a feeling she slapped him after the picture was taken though.) It was cute, as if they were a couple in love. But the trouble was, they weren't. 

He had once said that she didn't take kindly to flattering. Well, that wasn't really true. She could have taken it if it was someone else, and the real trouble for her lay in that it was him doing the flattering. Knowing that he didn't mean anything by it made her feel so angry… and sad. 

'Damn it, damn it, damn it. Why did I have to fall in love with the one boy who flirts with everything feminine? Couldn't I have fallen in love with someone _normal_?'

Her eyes swept over the pictures on her wall again, coming to rest on a photo of a long-haired boy making a rude gesture towards the camera. She frowned.

'Well, at least I didn't fall in love with Koga. I should be grateful for that at least, I guess.'

She thought about everything she detested about him. The way he always snorted and thought he was so much better than everyone else, especially in P.E., the way he had his hair in that STUPID ponytail and always wore that STUPID bandana, the way he didn't give a damn about school, thinking that just because it was more free than "normal" schools that meant he didn't have to go at all, the way he kept hitting on Kagome even though he _knew_ she and Inu-yasha were together, the way he always made those snide remarks, the way he always smirked, the way he…

She had spent half an hour in an entirely pointless discussion with him at that party, trying to convince him that his view of women was totally, utterly and completely wrong. She had never met such a fantastically sexist person before. And the worst thing was when he in the middle of the conversation suddenly turned around completely, saying,

"You know, during all the time we have been talking here, I don't believe you've really listened to a word I've said."

With a _smirk_. Argh.

He made her sick. 

She couldn't understand why the rest of her friends stood his company at all. He was stuck-up, stupid, snotty… ooh, all the words starting with "s" seemed to fit him perfectly. Slutty, smug, sexist, smirking… smart-aleck… sonofabitch… she could go on forever. But why waste her time?

He played _rugby_. Jeez. How brainless can you get. 

She stood up, starting to look through her wardrobe for something that was not… er… _revealing_. She discarded her favourite bikini – no way was she going to the beach with Miroku, dressed in that. Finally she found an old swimsuit from the time when she did competition swimming. That had only lasted a school term – she had enjoyed her martial arts training a lot more – but she had kept the old suit, luckily. As she dragged her backpack out from under the bed and started to stuff it with sun block, swimsuit and towel, she thought about how obnoxious Miroku always was. 

'I mean, pawing at every girl within reaching distance like that. Couldn't he just choose one?'

'And that would be you, I suppose?' asked a sarcastic voice in the back of her head, making her blush. 

'Is there anything wrong with that?!' she asked herself defensively.

'Oh no, nothing at all,' sniggered the voice.

'Oh, shut up.'

Suddenly as she went through the conversation with Kagome in her head again, Sango noticed something. She had been told to meet her friends at the far end of the beach, the one closest to the café. 

"You'll find us easily. We'll put up a flag up to be sure – it's our usual sign. A rugby jersey on a pole, you can't miss it."

A rugby jersey. She only knew one person who wore rugby jerseys. 

Oh no.


	5. Beach fanatics

Beach fanatics 

"Well hello, if it isn't the lovely miss Sango," smirked Koga as she arrived, glaring at him furiously. "Looking happy as usual."

"Spare me the compliments, smart-ass," she snapped, dropping her stuff next to Kagome. An entire day with mister I'm-better-than-you. Oh joy. 

"Miroku's gone to get us some ice-cream," said Kagome cheerily, ignoring the enmity between her two friends. "He should be back any minute – if he doesn't find someone pretty on the way to flirt with, of course."

"Wouldn't surprise anyone, would it?" mumbled Inu-yasha, his head hidden under a baseball cap. Sango looked at him curiously. Seeing him shielding his face from the sun like that, it made her remember a question she had been pondering for a long while now…

"Inu-yasha… are you an albino?" she asked hesitantly. He sat up and pulled the cap off his face, raising an eyebrow. Koga let out a howl of laughter. (Another thing Sango despised by the way. His laughter.)

"Does it look like it?" Inu-yasha asked.

Well, it did not. Inu-yasha was very tanned, his entire body a rich brown colour. 

"No… it's just… your hair…"

"Yeah, I don't know where that comes from," he said casually. "I played with Koga when I was little. It probably came from fright when I first saw his face." 

"Yeah right," snorted Koga. "You were as white as my granny even before I came on the stage. But honestly Sango, him? An albino? Are you really as stupid as you seem or is it just a show?"

Luckily, at that moment Miroku arrived with five big cones of ice-cream, otherwise it could have turned really nasty. Sango felt like her blood was on fire. One day, one day _real_ soon, she was going to take her Dictionary of Latin Phrases, and she'd make it go straight through Koga's head, and she'd wipe that stupid smirk off his face…

"Do I feel hostility here?" grinned Miroku, sitting down beside Sango. She growled. He laughed.

"Koga, Koga, how many times do I have to tell you you're not allowed to make her angry!" he exclaimed, punching the other boy lightly in the shoulder. "I mean, you take away all the fun for me!" Sango gave him a _Look_. He suddenly choked and put a hand to his throat. His breath came in ragged gasps as he put a hand on the ground to hold himself up. 

"Miroku?" she asked worriedly. "Miroku, are you OK?!"

He was almost blue in the face now, falling over to lie on the ground. He reached his hand out to her.

"I… have always… been wrong…" he whispered softly. She took his hand. Funny, it felt normal, not clammy or anything at all. She noticed Koga was sniggering too, and started to have a bad feeling about this. Miroku spoke his "last" words.

"Looks… _can_… kill…"

At that moment she dropped his ice-cream in his face. 

A while later, when Sango had calmed down, Miroku had stopped laughing and cleaned the ice-cream goo off his face and they were all becoming a bit restless, they decided to go for a swim. Sango had her bating suit under her clothes, and just pulled off her shirt and shorts, silently grumbling about Miroku and, most of all, Koga. She was getting started on all the  "s"-words again. _Sniggering_, sly…

Koga pulled off his (STUPID) rugby jersey.

…sexy. 

Ooooops. 

'Alright, so he has a fine body. Get a grip on yourself, he's still the same smug bastard,' Sango thought to herself, mentally slapping her cheeks and feeling a bit ashamed of herself. She had just never imagined him to look that good. 

"Are we all ready?" asked Miroku, standing up and brushing some sand off his legs. He looked mighty fine too of course, but she had seen him without his shirt on before. 

Er. Not because she had, well, been intimate of sorts with him or anything… even the thought made her blush, jeez. He had taken it off at her party for some unexplainable reason. Maybe because there were a group of cute girls watching him. 

Just maybe. 

"Sango?" She turned around to see Koga smirking at her. God damn it, couldn't he do _anything_ but smirk?

"Yeah?" she asked angrily. 

"Are you planning on standing there all day? 'Cos the others have already left." He pointed down to the sea, where Miroku just made a graceful dive into the waves. Blushing, she started walking down the beach briskly. She was sure she heard him chuckle behind her. 

"Sango my darling!!" shouted Miroku as she came near them, Koga tagging along behind. "How I've missed you! Come give papa a hug." She looked at him suspiciously. Why the sudden overenthusiastic welcome? She started to walk warily towards him, but then her brain clicked. Miroku. Wet. Hug. She did _not_ want that. 

Unfortunately, Miroku was way faster than her and caught her as she tried to flee, squeezing her tight. 

"YAAAAH!" she yelled, making several seagulls rise in fright. "Cold cold cold cold!" 

Miroku released her only when she was thoroughly soaked, chuckling happily. Koga was laughing so hard he had to sit down, not to fall over. Sango glared at him for a while, then as she realized she was now very wet and cold, too, she smiled devilishly. Throwing her arms around Koga's neck she rubbed her face in his chest, shedding as much water as she could on him. 

"YAAAAH!" he yelled, trying frantically to disentangle himself. "Cold cold cold cold!"

Sango finally let him go, laughing loudly. 

"Serves you right. Come on, Miroku, I'm betting you can't duck a dumper as well as I can!" She jumped into the waves, giggling happily as they pulled her out to sea, returning just before they pulled her too far out. 

"You often come to the beach, don't you?" asked Kagome as she swam close to her friend. 

"Every spare minute," smiled Sango. She was a true beach fanatic, not happy if she couldn't breathe salt air at least a few times a week. 

"You're an expert when it comes to handling the waves, I can see that," Kagome commented. "Looks like Koga might finally have found some competition! He's always been the best at knowing how far out he can go. Of course, he's very strong. Might be because of that."

"Hey, I'm strong too," pouted Inu-yasha, breaking the surface close to Kagome. 

"I know, you big baby. Is the wee boy a bit jealous because I complimented Koga?"

"Me? Do I look like the type of person who is jealous?"

"Jealousy is your second name, Inu-yasha."

"It is not! Honestly, we've been hanging out for how long and you still don't know what my middle name is? You wound me, girl…"

"My name is not girl! Honestly, we've been hanging out for – "

Leaving the pair to their bickering, Sango swam over to Miroku, whose legs were visible over the surface of the water. Just as she came close to him he flipped the right way up, coughing up sand and spluttering.

"Looks like I won the bet, huh? I think I can duck a dumper rather better than that." 

"Bitch," muttered Miroku, combing through his hair to rinse it from sand and seaweed. "I don't know how you can stand having all that hair – not that it's not beautiful, because it is, of course. Everything about you is beautiful, darling. But isn't it a dreadful nuisance? I don't have very long hair and it's still driving me nuts."

"Imagine my situation," grinned Koga, swimming over to them both. "I'm thinking about getting it cut."

"No, you mustn't!" said Sango, surprising herself. She hated his hair, didn't she? Koga raised an eyebrow.

"So you think it looks good this way?"

"Er… that's not it!" she stammered. "It's just that… I couldn't stand it if your hair was shorter than mine. It'd upset my view of the world."

"Oh-ho," grinned Miroku. "That's the problem, huh? Well then Koga, as you can see you can under no circumstances cut your hair." Koga was still giving Sango a kind of funny look. 

"I should, just to bother you." And of course, he smirked at her. This was getting boring. 

"Yo, Kagome, Inu-yasha, come over and join us!" he then yelled, interrupting them in mid-bicker. They were a pair alright – no one but themselves would be able to stand that much fighting in a relationship. They swam over to the others, narrowly avoiding being dumped on the way. 

"I just can't stand all these waves," Kagome panted as she reached them. "I think there is a kind of rock pool a bit further off. Can't we go there for a while?"

The others agreed, Sango rather reluctantly. After climbing around a few cliffs they found the rock pool, which was unfortunately full of people of the same mind as themselves. Oh well. 

"Yay! Calm water!" squealed Kagome, jumping into the pool immediately. Inu-yasha followed suit, back-flipping into the water after her. Of course Koga had to be better. He jumped up from a cliff and vaulted in the air before breaking the surface of the water perfectly.

"Show-offs," muttered Sango. 

"It's still the same old rivalry over Kagome," said Miroku with a smile. "You'd think they'd be over that by now, but nooo." He dived into the water and she followed him, almost wishing that two boys would fight like that over her. 

But that was a stupid idea.  

*************

They played in the pool for a long while, until they became cold and decided to go warm up back where they had left their stuff. 

Sango looked up after laughing at a joke Kagome had just made and saw Miroku gazing at a tall, handsome boy who was playing beach volleyball close to them.

"Miroku, what are you looking at?"

"Hm?" He shook himself slightly, coming out his thoughts. "Oh… I was just watching that boy over there make a fool of himself."

"Yeah right," snorted Inu-yasha. "_Sure_ you were."

The comment puzzled Sango, until she noticed a pretty girl sitting at the other end of the volleyball pitch. 

'Bet he was really checking her out. That must be what Inu-yasha meant, too.'

"I'm gonna go back to the beach," said Koga, standing up. "Anyone joining me?" He was looking at Kagome while he asked his question, but it was Miroku who answered. 

"Yeah, I'll come." After a slight hesitation Sango accepted the invitation, too, and the three of them made it down to the shore. (Inu-yasha and Kagome had both declined.)

"Come here, Miroku, I'll teach you a thing or two," Sango said. "When a large wave comes that you don't have time to take properly, you have to go under it. Otherwise you'll end up getting properly dumped and that's no joke. You see, if you take it like this…"

Koga, growing bored by the basics Sango was showing the other boy, swam off and left them alone. 

"Thank you, honey," said Miroku after a while. "I think I'm starting to get it now."

"Don't you "honey" me. And get your hand away from there before you have an accident. Like banging your face in my fist."

"Aw, come on Sango, you know you love it."

"Pervert."

She sniffed and turned away from him, not wanting him to see how close to the mark his comment had hit. Her eyes sparkled as she looked out over the sea. The sky was so blue, the water so inviting… The waves seemed to call out to her. Come, Sango. Come and play with us…

"I'm going to go a bit further out," she said. "Care to join me?"

"Do I look crazy?"

"You don't want me to answer that."

Before he had time to retort she swum away, taking long, powerful strokes and soon putting a considerable distance between her and the beach. She lay back and relaxed. Stupid Miroku, couldn't he _stop_ flirting with her? Or rather, couldn't he stop flirting with everyone else? She grumbled for a while about two-timing – make that one hundred and sixty-seven-timing actually – boys. Not that they were really together or anything, but still…

Where had Koga disappeared to? He'd been right beside them and then he was gone. 

'Ah, good riddance.'

She shut her eyes, feeling the waves gentle tug on her body. Well, not exactly gentle. It was very strong. And she was…

…shit! Sango's eyes snapped open as she realized how far from the beach she had actually come. She quickly turned around, starting to swim back. But the currents in the water were far too strong. Shit, shit, shit! Oh, she was so STUPID!

"Help!" she yelled, waving her arms frantically. But Miroku was too far away to hear her. He waved back cheerily, not seeing the plight she was in. She looked around wildly to find someone within hearing distance. But of course, no other swimmer was STUPID enough to venture out this far. 

She paddled furiously with her arms and legs, but didn't make much progress. She'd be worn out before long, and then she'd have no chance against the currents in the water. What then? Death out at sea?

She felt her strength giving out. Not much time left…

Suddenly someone actually came closer to her. Someone was swimming fast, with purposeful strokes, coming to save her.

"Help!" she cried feebly, blinking salt water from her eyes but still not seeing properly. She felt a strong arm go around her shoulders as the person started to pull her back to the shore. She tried to help them by swimming as much as possible herself, but she was now shaking with fatigue and could hardly move. Her savior noticed this and turned his head towards her. 

"Stupid… bloody… _idiot_," hissed Koga. 


	6. Surprises

Surprises

Sango didn't seem to be able to stop shaking. She was freezing. It didn't matter that she had been out of the water for more than ten minutes already and that she was wrapped in a large towel. The shock had, together with being in the water for far too long, made her so cold she doubted that she'd ever warm up again. 

Koga was still telling her how stupid she was, pacing to and fro before her.

"Swimming out like that when you didn't know how far you were able to go… You are such an absolute idiot I can't imagine how you've even made it to this age. You ought to be long dead, by laws of nature! Survival of the smartest and such. What if I hadn't seen you? Where do you think you'd be now? You'd be out at sea! As dead as the rats in the school's basement! You are so unbelievably _stupid_!"

"I _did_ know how far I could – " she started rebelliously, but was interrupted when he grabbed her wrist and shoved her own hand in her face. 

"Take a look at that," he said tightly. Giving him a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about-look, she gazed at her hand.

"It's a hand," she said. Koga growled. 

"It's shaking, bright kid. And do you know why it's shaking? Because you have spent God knows how long swimming against the currents. And why were you swimming against the currents? Because you were too bloody far out. Now tell me again that you know exactly how far out you can go."

"I just… lost track." He had a point. Of course she had been stupid. It had been a terrible risk. But she _did_ usually know how far out she was able to go. She didn't want him to think she was weak.

"Oh, you _lost track_! Well, then everything's OK isn't it? I've got news for you – it's not! Because if you can't concentrate you don't belong in the sea! Because if you can't concentrate you get pulled out to sea and drown faster than you can say "oops"! I thought you were supposed to be a smart girl!"

"Lay off it, Koga," said Miroku soothingly. He was looking rather pale and she realized that he had been worried, too. "Leave the poor girl alone for a while. She's probably figured out by now that she should have been more careful."

"Damn right she should," grumbled Koga, but let Sango's wrist go and turned away. 

"…sorry."

"Hm?" He turned back again and saw Sango staring at her feet. Her cheeks were burning with shame and something else that she couldn't herself define.

"For making you all worry. I know it was stupid of me to lose focus like that."

"Feh." Koga snorted dismissively. Sango felt her blood starting to boil again. Didn't he realize how hard that apology was for her? Stupid, insensitive jerk. And on top it all off he was just so… ah… aah… 

Sango sneezed.

"Someone must be talking about you, Sango," grinned Miroku, breaking the tenseness. Then he saw her blue lips. "Or there might be a more natural explanation, of course. What clothes have you brought with you?"

"Nothing except the ones I came in…"

"Oh for Heaven's sake," Koga exclaimed, "you're wearing thin on my patience now. Take that off." He pointed at her swimsuit.

"WHAT?!"

"Take-that-off-and-put-something-dry-on," he ground out between clenched teeth. When she had done so in the toilet of the café she felt a little better, but still far from warm. As she came out again Koga tossed something big and soft at her face. She caught it instinctively. 

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Guess three times, you moron. Wear it, what else?"

Sango looked in distaste at the piece of clothing she held in her hands. But it looked warm… She pulled it over her head before he decided to change his mind about giving it to her. 

"Ooh, cute," smiled Kagome. "Maybe you should start playing rugby."

Sango looked down on the rugby jersey she was wearing. God, that this day should come to her…

"And it's not even my colour," she sighed. 

*************

Koga drove her home. Apparently he had been kept back a year – well, no surprise there. That meant he was one year older than the rest of them – two years older than Kagome, did you figure that out all by yourself? – and had a driver's licence. And a car. A rather battered one (actually, a very battered one), but still a car. He was still grumbling a bit, but not as much as before. He had given Miroku a lift too, dropping him off somewhere in the centre of the city. Sango had a strong suspicion that Miroku didn't really live there though, and that his only reason for stopping there was the large group of girls sitting at the "Rainbow Café". Lecherous idiot. 

As they started to come closer to her home, Koga became very silent, looking about him in wonder. 

"Posh area, huh?" he said casually. For some reason, Sango was almost embarrassed, not knowing what to answer. 

"Please tell me you live in one of the basements. No? Well then, show the way to your house."

"There," Sango said simply, pointing at a beautiful house at the end of the street. Koga raised an eyebrow.

"Rich, your parents?"

"Parent."

"Ah."

They drove the rest of the street in silence. Well, he drove in silence and she…was driven in silence. He stopped just outside the gates to her house, reaching back into the back seat and tossing her bag to her. 

"See you at school, maybe. If I bother to come."

"Yeah…" She thought TURN, but her feet didn't obey her. Seemingly, they were agreeing with her conscience and her good manners. 

'Fine, fine, you win,' her own will muttered, defeated. Her conscience sniggered smugly. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

"I just wanted to say thank you." There, she had said it. 

Koga was staring at her with a nothing less than astonished expression on his face. It made her feel a little uncomfortable. 

"What?!"

"You're welcome," he said slowly, the surprised expression not leaving his face, but grinning. A real grin, without any smirk. 

"Uh, bye then," she said hesitantly, feeling freaked out by his reaction. He kept grinning, starting up his car again. 

"Bye!" With a cheery wave he pulled off, leaving her very confused.

'God, what was _that_ all about?!' she asked herself as she stomped into her room. 'What was there to be so damn happy about? The fact that I said thank you? Oh yeah, 'cos that's so fantastic, or what?'

She flopped down on her bed with a sigh. 

'Stupid idiot, he did it to bug me.'

She started going through her schedule for the day after. Do her Chemistry homework, work a little on her room, maybe start on the wardrobe door – even after more than one month she hadn't finished renovating yet – and then meet up with Kagome for a cup of coffee somewhere. It was how her Sundays usually looked, nice and slow, not a terrible lot to do. 

'What would it be like if I had a boyfriend? Would it be him I met up with instead of Kagome?'

Hm, not likely. Kagome didn't spend her time with Inu-yasha all the time, did she? She was with Sango just as much, and Miroku…

Miroku, Miroku, Miroku. There she was, thinking about him once again. His laughter. His eyes. His jokes. His hair that fell into his eyes. His way of turning his head when he spoke. His always groping her. 

Not that she liked that. 

Certainly not. 

She'd really have to talk to Kagome about this. Even though Sango had only met her little more than a month ago, she felt she could trust the girl with almost anything. And if she didn't tell anyone about all the mixed feelings she had soon, she would go nuts. 

Mixed feelings? Where did that thought come from? There wasn't really anything mixed with her feelings, she was in love with Miroku and the only thing that was mixed up was him.

Why did she suddenly think of Koga?

'GAAAH! Oh, I seriously need some sleep.' Rubbing her temples lightly, Sango got up from her bed. Yes, some sleep would be nice. And before that, a nice long bath. She went into the bathroom and put the hot water on, then reached down to start undressing, and paused. 

She was still wearing Koga's rugby shirt.

Damn. 

*************

"'Orry, wha 'ere oo shhayiin?" Kagome asked, around a mouthful of cake. They were sitting in a small café not too far from Sango's house, having their usual get-together. Sango correctly translated her question as "Sorry, what were you saying?" and replied. 

"Does Miroku ever talk about me?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean, of course."

"I just thought… since you've known him for much longer than I have… he might have said something to you…" Sango's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. 

"About what?" asked Kagome, a perplexed wrinkle in her forehead. "Spit it out, girl."

"About how he feels for me."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it's like this," Sango said, speaking hurriedly. "I really, really like him, and he keeps flirting with me all the time. But he flirts with everyone else, too. I think it seems like he flirts with me more…but maybe that's just wishful thinking. I have no idea how he feels about me, and I thought you might know…?" She looked up to see Kagome staring at her with an expression that was very hard to read – it seemed like mixed amusement and pity, or something. 

"Oh," said Kagome. "Um… jeez, you don't know… er, I don't really know how… oh my god. Uh… it's like… er…"

"What?"

"Well, Sango… Miroku's gay." 

*************

To Cookie: Well, that's one question answered for you, at least! (Can't believe you actually figured it out…:P) 

To Aamalie: Love you for being such a faithful reviewer… warms my heart. :)

To elsiey and Skitzoflame: There will be no Sango/Miroku in this fic for… natural reasons. 

To everyone else who has reviewed so far: Thank you! Sorry for the breaks between updates… I want to update more often but school is killing me. Wish I could go to a school that was more like the one in my fic! :) 


	7. About Fairies

About Fairies

"He's _what_?!"

"Gay," said Inu-yasha, leaning on the back of their sofa. "Homosexual. Fag. Fairy, queen, poofter, queer... getting the picture yet? I can go on if you want."

"Inu-yasha!" screamed Kagome, whacking him over the head. "What are you doing here?! I told you I wanted to be left alone! You thought I was meeting Koga, didn't you? _Didn't you?!_ Stupid – jealous – moron – " Each word was accompanied by a whack to his head. Inu-yasha tried to duck, yelling "sorry sorry sorry" over and over. 

While the two of them fought it out, Sango sat in shock, trying to figure out why she hadn't seen it before. The funny look Miroku gave Sesshoumaru during Sango's "test", it wasn't only anger, was it? The one he looked at when they were at the beach the day before, it wasn't the girl, was it? God, she really was blind, wasn't she...

"Why didn't you tell me?" she managed finally. Kagome stopped hitting Inu-yasha to answer her, looking very sorry.

"We just assumed you knew... it's sort of common knowledge around the school."

"You didn't think we'd let him act the way he does around girls if he was straight, did you?" Inu-yasha cut in. "I mean, the reason he behaves like he does is because it doesn't mean anything to him, if you know what I mean... god, he'd be a total pervert otherwise!"

"I think he has a boyfriend," Kagome went on. "Someone who works in a gay bar/café...thing somewhere in the centre of the city."

Of course. The Rainbow Café. Rainbow, the homosexuals' symbol. _Of course._

_"I thought you were supposed to be a smart girl!"_ Koga's words came back to her, ringing in her ears. Apparently she wasn't. 

"Uhmm, would you do me a favour? Don't mention this to Miroku."

"Of course," said Kagome, elbowing Inu-yasha who was snickering slightly. She reached out and took Sango's hand, looking worried and sympathetic. And _caring_. No one could be as caring as Kagome could. 

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course!" said Sango lightly. "I was just being silly. I mean, honestly. Uh, I've got to go now, see you tomorrow!" She gave them a cheery wave and left them, Kagome looking sad and Inu-yasha holding back laughter. Just before she closed the café door behind her she heard Kagome explode, yelling at her boyfriend.

"You are SUCH an insensitive JERK!"

Sighing, Sango left the café quickly.

'Well, that's that,' she told herself, home again in her bedroom. 'It was just a silly crush, right? ...Right?'

It wasn't that simple, of course. Just as she would still love him if she had found out he had a girlfriend, she still loved him even though she had found out he had a boyfriend. 

'But he's _gay_,' she reminded herself.

So what? His personality hadn't changed. He was still the same person she had fallen in love with. 

'Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it...'

She looked at the picture of the two of them on her wall. It looked false. While she had before held the hope that the scene it depicted might one day come to pass, she now knew that it was quite impossible. He would never love her back. Never ever ever. 

Overcome with emotions, Sango threw herself down on her bed and cried for a long, long time. 

                                                                             *

Fortunately, when you're seventeen life doesn't end there, even if it might feel like it does. By morning the next day Sango had recovered a bit. She winced at her red-eyed appearance in the bathroom mirror, smearing some make-up on her cheeks to hide the shadows under her eyes. Sighing deeply, she then picked up her bag and made her way to school. 

In accordance with Murphy's Law, the first person she met was Miroku. 

"Hello, my red-eyed beauty!" he chirped. "You're not looking like your usual radiant self. What's the problem?"

One day she'd have to kill that boy for his inhumanly bright morning temper.

"You are, Miroku," she answered quite truthfully, then smiled. "Nah, just kidding. I slept badly, that's all."

"Oh, I know how to get that crankiness out of you. Because I know that you are ticklish. So if I touch you here – or here – "

"Eeeeek! Get your hands away from me, lousy pervert!"

And so began another day, in the usual way. Things may not have been normal for Sango, but she'd be damned if she let it show. As she laughed, teased and joked with her friends, Kagome was the only one who noticed the strained look to her smile.

It felt good to pretend that nothing was the matter. She could kid herself that the day before had never happened, that she had never found out the truth about Miroku, that her world had never been turned upside down. And as she sat in the grounds eating lunch with her friends, she realized that nothing actually had to change. She'd just have to learn to get over Miroku, on her own. 

"I'm gonna find Koga and give him his shirt back," she said, digging the hideous thing out of her bag. "Does anyone know where he is?"

"Aw, do you really have to give it back? You look so cute in it," smirked Kagome, earning herself a glare.

"Try Hojo, he'll know. He's over there," said Inu-yasha, jabbing his knife in the direction of the cafeteria, which also happened to be the direction of Sango's stomach. She jumped and sighed in exasperation. 

"Do you always have to bring that stupid knife?"

"Hey, I live in a dangerous area!" Inu-yasha defended himself. "I need it!"

"And why do you have to fool around with it in school?"

"Intimidation," grinned Inu-yasha.

"Moron." She stuck her tongue out at him before turning around and walking towards the cafeteria, keeping an eye out for Hojo. The trouble with that boy was that you could never know where he was – he'd be somewhere else each day, not spending two days in a row with the same people. The good thing about him was that he knew everything. 

She found him sitting with the group of Brazilian exchange students, chatting away fluently in...Spanish, or whatever it was they spoke in Brazil. She watched him for a while with a grin on her face before speaking up.

"Yo, Hojo!"

"Ah, Sango!" said Hojo brightly, turning towards her with a smile. ""Have you met Dudu? Or Mònica? This is Felicia... Santiago..."

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish," she said as he turned to the group, introducing her in their own language. 

"It's not Spanish, it's Portuguese. I don't speak much, but I've picked up a little by speaking to these boys and girls here... you know how it is. You get chatting..."

Sango didn't know how it was, since she didn't belong to the group of people who were fluent in a language after five minutes of conversation, but she nodded anyway. You tended to nod a lot when you spoke to Hojo. 

"I'm looking for Koga. Do you know where he is?"

"Yes," Hojo answered after making some comment to one of the boys. "He's sitting in the soccer field with Snap and Hawk. Dudu thinks you're cute, by the way." He smiled at her – that big, innocent Hojo-smile – and she grinned back.

"Hojo, you're the best. Say thanks to Dudu."

On her way through the school buildings to get to the soccer filed, Sango met several people covered in green paint, growling about stupid idiots who couldn't even secure a ladder properly. A while further on she ran into her English teacher, also covered in paint, who was in hysterics. Finally she found Shippou, looking very apologetic and paint-covered as well – although with him this was not much different from how he usually looked. He explained that he had been repainting the girls' bathroom, and leaned the ladder on the door while he painted the last of the wall. On the ladder he had hung all his cans of paint while he worked.

So, naturally, the result of some girls opening the door to go to the bathroom was not a pretty sight. 

"And you never thought of maybe making a sign to warn them of what you were doing?"

"I didn't have a pen!"

"You only had your pockets full of paintbrushes."

"Well, yeah... um. Anyway, you want to take a look at what I've painted? It's really nice, if I may say so myself."

'What a subtle change of subject,' thought Sango with a smile, then peered into the room to admire whatever work of art Shippou had decorated the walls with this time. The smile disappeared from her face in an instant. 

"What?" Shippou drooped, looking like a kicked puppy. "Don't you like it?"

"Yeah, yeah! It's... nice..." Sango answered with a very strained smile. The bathroom had been transformed into a forest, with paintings of fairies dancing hand in hand among green trees and flowers covering every wall. Needless to say, fairies wasn't exactly what Sango wanted to see at the moment. 

"Aaaah," smirked Shippou, nodding wisely. "I know what the problem is. It's the _fairy_ thing, right?"

"What? How did you know?" Sango gasped. Had she really been that obvious? Did everyone know she had fallen in love with Miroku?

"I've had some other complaints about it," said Shippou, looking pleased with his own cleverness. "You think you're too _old_ for fairies, right?"

"...right."

                                                                        *

Koga was of course in the soccer field, just as Hojo had said. (Man, Hojo was scary sometimes. She wondered if he was a psychic.) He was laughing at something Snap had just said, and for once didn't look like his usual stuck-up self. However, as he spotted Sango the usual sneer slid into place quickly. 

"Well, well, Bright Kid. How's things with you? And why have you come to see me?"

"It's amazing how you directly assume I'm here to see you," Sango snapped. She was not in a good mood and the "Bright Kid" comment did nothing to lighten it up. She had already forgotten how he had saved her two days before and how...nice, in search for a better word, he had acted when he drove her home. All she could think of now was that she wanted to punch his ugly face. "I'll have to add conceited to the list of things I can't stand about you."

Koga narrowed his eyes. If she didn't know better she'd almost think he was hurt by what she said. 

"So you came out here to insult me? You're wasting your time. I doubt you could ever think up something to hurt me, bright as you are."

She tossed the jersey in his face. 

"I came to give you that back. I was going to give it to you in English but you weren't there."

"Why should I be there? Everyone isn't as ambitious as you, rich girl."

Something inside Sango snapped. He was just so... so... She could see Snap and Hawk slowly edging away from her, looking a bit scared.

"You are such an arrogant bastard! Just because you happen to go to a school that won't give you trouble if you don't manage you don't give a damn about studying. That's so freaking stupid! It's planning nothing ahead! It's guys like you, stupid bloody morons, I just can't stand!" She turned on her heel, marching away from him. Ooh, he made her so angry. She knew it was stupid to lose her temper like that but she just couldn't help it. Aargh, why did Kagome like him? Why did she have to invite him to everything fun they did together? She could hear Snap and Hawk chuckle behind her and hoped they were laughing at their friend. 

She didn't see the shocked and hurt expression on Koga's face.

                                                                        *

Waaaah! Sorry sorry sorry! (Does a nice impression of Inu-yasha ducking from Kagome, expecting to be hit any second.) Our computer crashed and I haven't been able to use it at all. Please don't hate me! The next chapter will be up quicker. Promise. (Unless the gods really hate me and the computer crashes again... it's been looking pretty bad...) 

Something I Think I Ought To Explain: The names Snap and Hawk, because I can guess you've been thinking "Who the _hell_ is that?!" The thing was, when I wrote the first fic containing Koga's friend with the black fringe (I kind of like him... he's sweet), I didn't know what he was called, so I made up a name for him: Snap. Then later I asked my sister for a name for the other one, the one with the mohawk, and she gave him the name Hawk. Now I've found out that their names are Ginta and Hakkaku, but I don't know which one's which. So until I find that out, I'm sticking with Snap and Hawk, 'cos I like those names. 

So there. 


	8. Ten things I hate about Koga

Ten things I hate about Koga

Time wore on and she got used to having Koga around, even though she didn't like it. For her friends' sake she stood out with his company, but no one said she had to be nice to him, did they?

"So what is it you hate so much about Koga?" asked Kagome one day while they were watching a rugby game, where Sango's favourite (cough-_not_-cough) boy of course was playing. 

"Well, for starters... he can't play rugby." Sango pointed down at the pitch. "See, he just fell over. Clumsy idiot."

Kagome peered down in the direction of Sango's finger. 

"Sango, he just scored."

"Oh, so he's _good_ at rugby! That's even worse. It's got to be the most stupid sport on planet earth."

"You're not making any sense. First he's stupid if he's bad at rugby, then if he's good at it. Make up your mind."

"Alright, how about this?" said Sango, not taking her eyes off the game. OK, so it was a _bit_ interesting. "He's rude, self-centered, lazy, stupid, arrogant, ugly, sexist and he has the most STUPID  views on everything. He calls girls "chicks". He doesn't open his mouth unless it is to insult someone. He's my exact opposite in just about... I don't know... everything. OK?"

Kagome gave her a very shrewd look. 

"You know what they say, opposites attract."

"Specify who "they" are. And what are you implying?"

"Nothing, darling. Ooh, he scored again!"

Sango looked at her friend, feeling very puzzled. She was so innocent in a way, and yet at the same time not. But didn't she realize...

"Kagome, doesn't it bother you that he wants to get into your pants?" Kagome jumped and stared at her, then started to laugh. 

"You think he's still on about that? Oh no, no, no, he gave up a while ago. He just keeps flirting with me to annoy Inu-yasha. He's doing pretty good, too. No one can make Inu-yasha as angry as he can."

"How did you meet Inu-yasha?"

Sango kept springing this question on Kagome when she figured the other girl wasn't expecting it, hoping to get an answer. She didn't have more luck today than usually.

"It's a secret." Kagome smiled, lost in her own thoughts. Sango sighed, rolled her eyes and focused on the rugby game again. She couldn't for her life understand why had agreed to come to this. _Voluntarily_ watching Mr. Unbelievable Git. It was probably just because her subconscious didn't want her to leave Kagome alone with Koga (since both Miroku and Inu-yasha had flat out refused to go).

What other reason could there be?

"Oh yeah, Sango... did I tell you we're all going to the movies this weekend?" asked Kagome, startling her and making her look away from the rugby pitch. She looked back again quickly, only to find she had missed a crucial part of the game.

"Aw, you made me miss the opposite team's penalty! ...Oh well, at least they didn't get it," she said with satisfaction. Kagome gave her an even shrewder look than before. 

"So rugby isn't that stupid after all, is it? And since when are you cheering for Koga's team?"

"Bah, shut up. Tell me about this weekend instead."

"Alright," said Kagome, smirking in a I-know-something-you-don't-even-know-yourself-yet-way. Damn, she must have been spending too much time with Koga. "We're going to see Matrix Revolutions 'cos I've been dying to see that for ages. We figured most of our assignments are done now, so we wanted to treat ourselves a little. Are you joining us?"

"Yeah, sure... I've wanted to see that for a long while too."

"Oh, good. Then Inu-yasha's definitely overruled."

"Sorry?"

"He wanted to see something else," Kagome explained. "Can't remember what it was called, but none of us others were really interested. He's really into those old, romantic movies you know? "Casablanca" is one of his favourites, I think."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Sango, waving her hands. "Are we talking about the same guy here? Inu-yasha, owns a wardrobe consisting mainly of black clothes, looks about ready to kill every time he gets upset about something, likes to toy with a knife the size of... of... of a really really large knife?"

"Yeah," said Kagome, looking mildly surprised. "But you know he's really just like a cute puppy inside."

Sango didn't bother to answer that. Kagome took advantage of the pause to give her some more "good" information.

"Oh, and we're going to be a couple of people. Shippou and his cousin Kit are coming along – she's in town for a while and Shippou wanted to take her out to do something fun – and of course Koga, Snap and Hawk."

Sango's "WHAT?!!" was drowned in the loud cheer of the audience. The game was over and Koga's team had won. As Kagome jumped onto her seat, whooping and laughing, Sango rested her head in her hands. She was feeling the beginning of a terrible headache coming on.

                                                             *

Friday night arrived and with it, a car horn honking loudly outside Sango's window. She heard her father yell downstairs about young people with no sense of decency, and probably criminals too, and hastened to open her window to tell whoever the idiot was to go the hell away.

Of course, who should meet her gaze but Koga and his two side-kicks, Snap and Hawk.

(Are we surprised? No, me neither.)

"What are you doing here?" she hissed furiously, and was met with a huge yawn from Mr. My-people-skills-are-below-bad Koga.

"We came to pick you up," said Snap helpfully, throwing his friend a disgusted look. "Kagome said to tell you sorry she couldn't meet you, but she and Inu-yasha had a rather nasty accident with a hairdryer. So we are going to take you to the café instead."

"And if you're not down in five I might change my mind about that. Hurry up," said Koga, revving the engine for emphasis. She threw him a glare and hurried away from the window. He was getting on her nerves already. How would she be able to stand an entire night?

"Bye Dad, Kohaku!" she yelled as she ran out the door, towards the car where a heated argument was in full swing.

" – why you have to be so damn mean?" Snap was asking, glaring angrily at his friend.

"Because she can't stand me, and I can't stand her, the rich bitch. If she treats me like shit it's not more than fair if I treat her the same way, is it?" Koga looked very angry too, and Sango had a feeling she could guess who they were talking about.

"HI, SANGO!" said Hawk loudly and demonstratively, having just spotted her, and elbowed Snap in the ribs. "How's it hanging?"

"Just fine, thanks." She plastered her biggest and cutest smile on her face. "So where am I sitting?"

"Er... in the front, with Koga."

"Oh." She made sure to let her disappointment show clearly in her face before getting in the car. She noted the grim expression on Koga's face with satisfaction. If he wanted war, she would give him war. Rich bitch, was she?

They got to the café to find Kit and Kagome talking about sales, Miroku chatting up the waitress, Shippou creating a work of art out of three coffee-stained serviettes and Inu-yasha looking as if he had just been through a terrible ordeal. Sango immediately went and sat next to him, asking what was the matter.

"It was... horrible..." He shuddered. "I was just standing there peacefully with the hairdryer... and suddenly it started _eating_ my hair. And I tried to get it off, but it just stuck. And then Kagome came and turned the power of."

"Well, that's OK then, isn't it?" said Sango, patting his hand soothingly.

"You haven't heard the worst part yet." Inu-yasha drew a deep breath. "_She cut my hair._ And there I was, at the mercy of someone who hasn't cut a person's hair in her entire life..."

"Hey!" Kagome shouted angrily from the next table. "Yura showed me how to do it, it's easy!"

"Yeah, yeah..." muttered Inu-yasha, then explained to Sango, "Yura is her insane hairdresser. So there I was, at the mercy of someone who learnt all she knew from a girl who says "la?" in every sentence like another five-year-old, dresses like a whore and purrs to her customers about how nice their heads would look on her wall, and can you now understand why I was a tad scared? "I'm going to fix it up, it's all uneven," she says and proceeds to attack my scalp with a pair of scissors that could rival my knife. And when she's finally finished I just hear her say one word: "Oops." It was around then I fainted."

"But Inu-yasha..." Sango frowned. "Your hair looks fine."

"Yeah, I don't understand that either," he said, looking puzzled. "I think she bribed her mum to fix it up while I was unconscious."

"I did not!" exclaimed Kagome indignantly. "I fixed it all by myself! And I only said oops because I dropped my towel!"

"Yeah right," snorted Inu-yasha and ducked a coffee cup thrown by his pissed-off girlfriend.

"Oh lord, look at the time!" Kit exclaimed suddenly, making them all jump. "We don't want to be late to the movie!"

"Yes we do," muttered Inu-yasha, and was ignored. The others hastened to gather their stuff together and get out from the café.

(It can here be mentioned that the serviettes Shippou had been playing with were later found by their waitress. She sold the sculpture he had created from them to an art gallery for quite a large sum, which enabled her to quit her job and take a nice holiday to Bahamas. There she met a kind and good-looking bartender, married and had twelve children, plus two dogs and a canary. She never served another coffee in her entire life, and was much happier for it.)

"Tickets, everyone!" said Kagome, handing them out. "I haven't got the slightest clue of what seats we have, but there are no single tickets, I made sure of that." They all got their tickets and left for the cinema, which was just over the road. As they had very little time left before the movie started they just rushed in, got their tickets checked and proceeded quickly to finding their seats. And Sango found that she...

'Kagome, you planned this, you sly bitch,' she thought.

...she was sitting right next to Koga, who didn't look too happy about it either. Fortunately, she had Snap on her other side so she would at least be able to talk to someone during the movie. She was sure Kagome had fixed it up to make her talk to Koga though.

Curse that girl.

The movie was good, and chatting to Snap proved to be very entertaining. He was such a clever guy, even though he didn't usually show it. At first Sango tried to stubbornly ignore Koga, but she found it very hard when he kept a) leaning across her to say something to Snap or b) making lots of very sarcastic, very funny remarks about the film. Damn it, he actually got her _laughing_.

She had just turned towards him to ask something when there was a deafening explosion on the screen. In the sudden fright she grabbed a hold of whatever it was that was closest and hung on for dear life, squeezing her eyes shut. She then remembered that it was just a movie and opened her eyes again, feeling very embarrassed.

It was then she became aware of what she had been hugging.

"Ho," said Koga, gently prying her arms off his neck. "Now I know which movie to bring chicks to. Not a bad result."

And he smiled.

"You should smile more often, it's much nicer than when you smirk," Sango said without thinking. Then she blushed furiously, turned away from his surprised expression and spent the rest of the movie talking to Snap and Snap only. 

'What was _that_ all about?!' she asked herself, once home again later that night. 'What the _hell_ was that all about?!' She pummeled her pillow angrily.

'Why does the bastard always make me so _confused_?! God, I hate him! I hate him I hate him I hate him!!!'

She gave the pillow a last good bash and then laid down to sleep, trying not to think about how nice Koga looked when he smiled.


	9. Bit by bit the Week of Peace

Bit by bit – the Week of Peace

Sango was waiting for Inu-yasha, with whom she had been partnered in Chemistry to do a project. She had been waiting for quite a while now and was starting to become more than a little irritated, as well as restless.

'No better way to pass the time than to listen to some good music,' she decided. She popped a disc into the MD-player hanging from her belt, smiling when the music filled her earphones. Ooh, she loved this song.

_"Ceeeelia, you're breaking my heart..."_

                                                        *************

Koga, didn't bother to knock, he never did. Why should he? (Ooh, rebel.) Thus as he opened the door he saw for the first time Sango as she really was, free from whatever mask she might wear in the outside world among other people. She was dancing with her eyes closed, moving to the music. She was singing...

"You're shaking my confidence daily, oh Ceciiilia, I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you please to come home..."

He realized with a start that she was beautiful. The thought shocked him. He had never thought about her like that before. She wasn't really his type – he'd always preferred, well, weaker girls. That sounded terrible and a little bit sexist, he knew that, but that was the way he worked and he couldn't help it, alright? He liked girlier girls, girls more like Kagome, more innocent and less... er... bitchy.

So how come his heart was suddenly thumping?

With a last "Ceciiilia!" Sango opened her eyes, saw Koga, gave a small squeak and blushed and then fixed him with her death stare.

"What are you doing here?" she spat, her cheeks an angry red.

"Inu-yasha sent me down with some science files," Koga answered innocently, fighting down the urge to reply sarcastically. Be nice, he decided. "He's coming down later, but had something to do first. He said get started."

"Fine, thanks." She grabbed the files from him and stared pointedly at the door. Koga laughed.

"I was planning to stay and see what you were doing. The part about sulphuric acid sounded pretty interesting. But as you're clearly so unwilling to have me here..." He made as if to walk out of the door, then paused and looked at her.

"Well?" she asked coldly. "What are you waiting for?"

"That was supposed to be the part where you say, _"no, sorry, you don't have to go"_."

"I didn't."

"I noticed."

"I won't, either."

"Fine, fine, I get the point." He threw his hands in the air with a defeated look and walked out of the door. She watched him go with a feeling she could not quite understand. He'd actually been kind of...nice.

She shook her head briefly and was just about to get down to her work when Koga stuck his head back around the doorframe. 

"Cute dance, by the way."

A test tube narrowly missed his face as it went flying, smashing against the side of the door. Laughing gaily, Koga ran off down the corridor before Sango decided to throw something else at him. 

Unknown to both of them, from that day on something had changed. 

                                                        *************

About two weeks later Sango was sitting with Inu-yasha, braiding his hair. It was before the P.E. lesson, and as Inu-yasha stubbornly refused to cut his hair he had to wear it in a braid or pony tail those particular lessons so it wouldn't get in the way. Kagome had once tried to make him wear pigtails, but it hadn't gone down too well. 

They were chatting aimlessly about anything and everything, but suddenly Inu-yasha said something that made her start in surprise.

"I'm glad you aren't after Koga's head anymore. It made him so unhappy when you were."

"Say what?" said Sango, accidentally yanking on his hair and making him wince. "Oops, sorry."

"No prob. But you know Sango, no one can hurt Koga like you can. Somehow you always manage to hit all his weak points when you fight. Haven't you noticed how crushed he looks after you've said one of those really cutting remarks? That's why I'm glad you're friends now. It wasn't nice to see him so unhappy."

"Since when are we friends," snorted Sango. "I stand his company, that's all."

"Is that _really_ all?"

There was something in his amber eyes she didn't like when he said that last remark. Jesus, he was just as bad as Kagome. 

"Of course that's all. What else would there be? You're not expecting us to become best friends all of a sudden, are you? And why are you so worried about him anyway? I thought you hated his guts!"

"Well I did..." said Inu-yasha slowly. "Or actually, I didn't, not really. He was being a right idiot about Kagome, but all that fighting we did, it was almost like a game, seeing how far we could go. Lately, anyway. It was pretty serious in the beginning... But he's still my oldest buddy, you know, and I don't like to see him get hurt."

Sango shrugged and tied the end of his braid with a piece of string.

"Also... I know he likes you."

"WHAT??!" Sango exclaimed, turning very red in the face. Inu-yasha looked mildly surprised. 

"What's so weird about that?" he asked innocently. "He thinks you're a cool chick. And when you're not at each other's throat he thinks you're really funny to be with."

"Oh." Sango cursed her inclination to blush. It was so embarrassing. But the way Inu-yasha had said that... it had sounded as if Koga liked her as more than just a "cool chick"... as more than just a friend... and that was why she had blushed? God, she really needed to get a grip on herself.

"Yo, Koga!" yelled Inu-yasha, making Sango jump a foot into the air. "How's it hanging?"

"It sucks," answered Koga, sitting down beside Sango on the bench she had occupied and putting his arms behind his head. Inu-yasha didn't rise from the floor where he had been sitting while Sango fixed his hair, but turned around to face them both and looked curiously at Koga, who sighed and made an irritated gesture with his hands. "I mean, I come all the way into school for P.E. and when I'm here what do I find? There is no damn P.E. today!"

"There isn't?" asked Sango, her face falling. She had been looking forward to today's lesson. They were going to try archery, which she hadn't done since she was little.

"Nah, Sesshoumaru is home with his adopted kid, you know the small one with a grin on her face all the time? Rin or whatever she's called. Apparently she has the flu. So I'm going to go for a coffee now instead. You two wanna join me?" asked Koga casually. "I know a good place not too far from here."

They both accepted. With two hours of free period to kill, what better way than to sit in a nice, cosy café? All the rest of their P.E. group were somewhere else, nowhere to be found, so it was just the three of them who a few minutes later walked out of the school, heading for the café. 

"Shit!" said Inu-yasha suddenly. "I just remembered something I have to do with Miroku. But you two go on, I'll see you at the next lesson!" He ran off, back towards the school, but not before giving Sango a small wink, which puzzled her. 

'How odd.'

Well at the café they ordered a coffee each and sat down at a small table. And suddenly realized that none of them had any idea of what to say.

"Well, this was weird," said Koga after an embarrassing silence, with a lopsided grin that somehow made him look adorable. "Don't we have anything to say to each other except insults?"

"I can start with the insults if you like," said Sango lightly. "Got a whole stack of 'em ready, just for you."

"Oh, thank you. But I like you much better when you're smiling."

"And I – what?" His comment caught her off guard. She had been ready with a sarcastic reply – that was how their conversations usually went, with them lacing their comments with more and more venom until one of them finally cracked. So what was Koga doing?

'Diverting tactics?' she thought, but no. He had seemed honest. 

"I really like arguing with you," he went on, "because I don't know anyone who can argue half as well as you can. But I'd like to be able to talk to you normally too, you know. You're great friends with Inu-yasha and Kagome and Miroku, but we two always fight. And that's kind of stupid, seeing as we hang out together all the time, courtesy of Kagome Higurashi. It's getting kind of boring to think up new comebacks all the time, don't you think?"

"You know, you're right," she said, feigning enlightenment and tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I think it was just yesterday I was lying awake, panicking because I couldn't think up an insult I hadn't yet used. I actually considered staying home from school, but then I remembered that I haven't called you "inbred mongrel" already this week." She stared mockingly at him and smirked when he growled in reply. Then her face softened and she smiled. "Just kidding. Truth to be told, I'm getting pretty tired of fighting with you all the time too. But I guess I'm just used to yelling at you. Don't know if I'd manage without the daily "I hate you, bastard"-dose."

"How about this," said Koga, grinning. "We make it a week without any fights. If we're both insane at the end of this week, then we'll go back to hating each other. Otherwise we'll stay friends. Does it sound any good?"

"Alright."

Koga spat in his hand and held it out. Sango regarded it doubtfully. 

"This is how you want to start our week of peace?"

"Jeez, don't you know anything, bright girl?" asked Koga, but without the usual rancour. "It's a way to seal a deal, right?" 

"I think I prefer a normal handshake," said Sango, holding out a serviette to him and smiling. Then they shook to their new agreement. 

"I just have one question," said Sango. "Before we start our week of peace, because if you answer this question incorrectly I won't be able to be very nice to you. Are you really as sexist as you seem?"

Koga looked at her in puzzlement for a long while, then his face cleared up in a sunny smile. 

"Oh, you're still thinking about that conversation at the "Yay, Sango's Been Here For One Month"-party, right? The one about sexism? I was just kidding you! Jeez, did you really think I stood for all I said?! I just wanted to see what you'd have to say to some of the stronger arguments I had against feminism. Of course," he added, "you went around the problem by not listening to what I was saying."

Sango was feeling confused. It felt as if a lot she had been thinking about Koga suddenly didn't fit in anymore. It was a very disturbing feeling. But at the same time she felt happy. He was a much better guy than she had thought. 

'Maybe I could really be friends with him,' she thought. 

They spent several hours in the café, hours filled with talk about sports and swimming. They found out that they actually had lots of common interest, most to do with physical exercise, and that they also, surprisingly, had a very similar taste in music. They made plans to go and raid the nearest music store the very next day. And Sango felt that although he might not be the most well-behaved boy she had ever met, she might just consider being friends with him after all. 

"So did you have a good time?" smirked Inu-yasha as he met Sango in the Religion class the day after. "I mean, you even skipped a lesson to stay with Koga."

"Yeah, we sort of lost track of time," said Sango brightly, not noticing the undertone in his words. "He's actually a very nice guy when you get to know him. I never would have believed it." She then noticed Inu-yasha was sniggering. "What?"

"Oh, nothing…" said Inu-yasha lightly, starting to clean his finger nails with that big knife of his. A sure sign that he was avoiding something. He always took out his knife when he was trying to look innocent. How he presumed to look innocent with a ten-inch knife was something that Sango had never understood. She squinted at him suspiciously, but decided to let it pass.

The lesson went on its way without any particular incidents, if you didn't count the class deciding that they wanted to skip the Hinduism education and go on a lecture about it at the university instead. The teacher looked kind of helpless as some of the students rushed out of the room, off to call up the university and book seats at the lecture. Somehow, Sango didn't think that she'd ever get completely used to Sunset High. 

At lunch she got the explanation for Inu-yasha's smug behavior when Miroku gathered her in a hug, asking how her date had gone. 

"My date…?" 

"Yes, with Koga!" Miroku sparkled. "Inu-yasha told me all about it!"

Throwing her so-called friend a murderous glance, Sango carefully pried herself from out of Miroku's grasp.

"I haven't been on any goddamn date," she said, frowning. "We just went out for  a coffee because there wasn't any P.E. lesson. Inu-yasha would have come himself too, but he had something to do with you…"

"No he didn't," said Miroku, looking puzzled. "I wasn't at the school yesterday, I helped Mark out with the café, 'cos one of the waitresses was sick. Although I didn't really fit in her uniform," he added as an afterthought. 

Sango graced Inu-yasha with an – if possible – even more murderous look. He had the nerve to start whistling. 

"What are you trying to do?" asked Sango angrily, grabbing a lock of his hair and yanking his head upwards, forcing him to look at her. 

"What? Oh, nothing. Does it seem like we're trying to do something?" There was no one like Inu-yasha when it came to looking innocent. However, he didn't fool Sango. Snorting huffily, she turned on her heel to go in search of Shippou. She wanted to spend the lunch hour with someone sane, for once. She wondered briefly where her life had taken such a turn that she was now considering someone who handed in his essays as comics because he didn't know how to _write_ as sane. Then she spun around again, struck by something Inu-yasha had said.

"You said "we're trying to do something". Kagome is in this too, isn't she?"

There was also no one like Inu-yasha when it came to looking guilty.

                                                        *************

The "week of peace" passed happily, and Sango found that she liked considering Koga a friend instead of her nemesis. What she didn't like, however, was that Inu-yasha and Kagome had somehow teamed up to try and make her fall in love with him. 

They were not succeeding.

No, of course not. 

_Absolutely_ not. 

The idea was ridiculous. 

"I think the experiment passed off rather well, don't you?" grinned Koga that Friday. "Why can't we keep it this way?"

"You know we'll start fighting again," smiled Sango. Oh, the times she had felt like hitting him this week, and only stopped herself because of their agreement. 

"Well, of course. But we don't have to make it the aim of the day to annoy the shit out of each other, right?" 

"Good idea."

"Hey peacemakers, what do you say we go for a cup in the Rainbow Café?" asked Miroku, interrupting their conversation. "I want to see Mark, and I think we could all do with a reward after getting that English essay back. Or, in Koga's case, with a bit of consoling."

"Shut up," said Koga pleasantly, but agreed. 

Sango had met Miroku's boyfriend before, at a party and one time out on the town. He was funny, intelligent, charming, kind and good-looking and he matched Miroku perfectly. But she hated his name. 

'I mean, Mark and Miroku. It sounds really stupid.'

She had long ago gotten over her infatuation with Miroku. It hurt to see him and his boyfriend together the first time, but she had accepted fate. And realized that there might not be two people in the rest of the world who fit so well together. They both enjoyed flirting with girls immensely, and both would have been equally shocked if someone had asked whether they were serious about it. They both had that sparkle that made girls as well as boys look twice after them, and they were both as oblivious to the effect they had on others. And they were both very much in love with each other. 

She wondered sometimes about how accepted their relationship was. She knew that Mark had once been beaten up by a gang of boys at his old school, before he graduated. Did Miroku have to go through that kind of prejudice, too?

"Hey Miroku," she said as they walked along. "Do you have to take any shit from people who are prejudiced against homosexuals? Just wondering."

"It's funny," smiled Miroku, "you ask me all these questions now, but you never mentioned my sexuality when you first came here. You didn't have to be so shy about it, you know."

"Oh, it wasn't that," grinned Inu-yasha. "It was just that Sango thought – "

"Never mind," said Kagome, after having applied her elbow to Inu-yasha's midsection, rather hard. "Go on, Miroku."

"Well, in the beginning there was a spot of trouble with Koga here," Miroku said, throwing an arm around his friend's shoulders amiably. "He wasn't too keen on sharing the showers with me after P. E. …"

"Well, _sorry_," huffed Koga, as Sango gave him an accusing look. "I mean, would you be willing to take a shower with a _guy_ you hardly knew? It was the same for me."

"Then he found out I wasn't about to jump on him and ravish him then and there," Miroku continued. "And then it was alright by him. It's been OK for me, I've got good friends. Even though they tend to make perverted jokes." He glared at Kagome in particular, who had the grace to look embarrassed. 

"Remind me again why I hang out with you," said Sango, feeling that she couldn't have picked a stranger group of people if she had tried. 

"Because we're just so damn cool," said Koga, in the tone of someone laying down an indisputable argument. "Oh look, we're here!"

And Koga was, Sango reflected, entirely right. 

                                                        *************

Long chapter, right? (This is where you start applauding.) Thank you, thank you, I know I'm awesome. I so totally rock, I know. Oh, but there's really no need to kiss my shoes... really, you don't have to... oh, alright then, if you insist. Watch the polish though. DON'T LICK THEM, YOU IDIOT, I SAID WATCH THE POLISH!!!

...OK, I'm not being entirely serious here, if you didn't figure that out already. Thank you, all reviewers – you make my life worth living. (My sister thinks I sound depressive when I say that. This is not the case. I just like getting reviews.) It's great to know I still have an audience, even though I tend to do some... unorthodox things. (Am talking about Miroku's sexuality here.) 

The ending to this chapter was kind of... bland. But don't worry, the pace is going to pick up. Sort of. Although I'm afraid the next chapters are going to be much shorter than this one. 

_References:_ The song Sango is singing in the beginning of this chapter is "Cecilia", by Simon and Garfunkel. I like S&G, therefore Sango likes them too. Also, I was listening to that song while writing this chapter, so it felt pretty natural to use it. 

While I'm still writing, here's a thank you to my sister: Thank you. *big kiss on the cheek and bone-breaking hug* My sister, people, is the one who came up with the title for this story. Try as I might, I suck at making up titles. (Although I have made up almost all of the chapter titles myself, so there!) She has also helped me with inspiration whenever I'm stuck and, of course, she regularly boosts my ego by telling me what a wonderful writer I am. (She's quite an accomplished liar.) A big tip to all the other writers out there: get yourself a little sister. I have one you can rent for a tidy little sum, but the best thing is to have one of your own. Ask your parents, they know how to get one. 


	10. Twisted Relations

Twisted relations

"Yeah, me and Koga are going to catch a movie now on Saturday," said Sango, trying to pick out an outfit AND apply her mascara AND read a little in the textbook for her English AND talk to Kagome on the phone, all at the same time. She was doing as well as you might expect. "We're going to that new Disney film, what's it called, Finding Nemo. It looked so cute."

"You look so cute, too," laughed Kagome. "Together, I mean."

"Oh for heaven's sake, haven't you given up on that _yet_??" Sango sighed impatiently. "We're just friends, how many times do I have to tell you? You wouldn't make all this fuss if I went with Miroku, or Inu-yasha, or Hojo… We're just going as FRIENDS. We're FRIENDS. Jeez."

"Yes, yes, whatever you say," giggled Kagome. Sango stuck her tongue out at the telephone. Alright, so it was childish, but Kagome was being pretty goddamn childish too. It wasn't as if she and Koga were going out or anything. They just liked to hang out together. She couldn't believe she had hated him so much in the beginning. How stupid all of that seemed now, the time when they were always griping at each other. Boring. 

Of course they still got angry at each other, argued and fought until they were so sick of each other that they'd stomp off in two different directions and sulk stubbornly for hours. But now they could for the greater part of the time finally come to an agreement, admitting that they had both been in the wrong. - Although, of course, most of the time it was Koga who had been in the wrong. At least from Sango's point of view.

She hadn't expected a miracle, but slowly, over a few weeks, "the seed of friendship that had been sown during the Week of Peace had begun to sprout". (Actually, she thought Miroku was taking things a bit too far when he said that.)

Kagome talked about them as a pair. There was no truth at all in that. He was still a badly-spoken, uneducated lout. They still had the most blazing rows about stupid little things ('Well, he always starts them!' thought Sango. '...alright, almost always. Often, anyway. Definitely half of the time. I think.'). And he still played rugby. Honestly. She didn't know how there could ever be a chance of a relationship there. They were just too different. 

She had more in common with one of his mates, Snap. She was happy over having gotten to know him. He was one of her favourite people in the entire world.

Which reminded her, she needed to talk to him. She'd do it after she'd gone to the cinema with Koga. 

Cinema with Koga. 

With Koga.

Koga. 

Koga.

"Hello, Sango, are you still in there?" Sango shook her head. Oh, she was too scatterbrained for these kind of multiple activities. Now that she was trying to think in the middle of it all as well the mess was unbelievable. She noticed that she had been underlining important phrases in her English book with her mascara brush. Wincing, she smudged it off and returned to her conversation with Kagome. 

"Barely. I've such a lot to do and think about, you know."

"Poor baby, you're all stressed out, of course. Going to the movies with one of the most attractive guys in school. All the girls feel sorry for you, you know."

"We're just friends, you know."

"That's not what the girls in school think, you know."

"You're all starting to get on my nerves, you know."

"Sorry. You know."

"What do you say we finish this conversation before we both go insane. You know?"

"Good idea."

"Bye."

"Bye."

'Aargh!' Sango screamed in her mind, hanging up. 'They're all driving me crazy. There's nothing between me and Koga, is that so hard to understand?'

And why were all the girls in school – at least in Kagome's year – so interested in him, anyway? What did he have? ...Well, except his good looks. And sense of humour. And wittiness. And kindness and charming manners when he wanted to. And his way of always finding out when you were sad, and doing something about it. And his fierce loyalty to all his friends. And his great taste in music, and his pleasant voice that made him a good singer.

…Except for that, there was really nothing special about him. 

                                                        *************

Curse that Inu-yasha for always finding out things about him he didn't even realize himself! Koga fumed. He had just had an…enlightening conversation with Inu-yasha. And it had brought up facts he didn't want to face. How had this happened?

How could he have fallen in love with a rich bitch from the posh quarters?

But maybe she felt the same way. Inu-yasha had dropped some obscure hints, and Kagome always looked so starry-eyed when she saw them together. And there was a certain something about the way she smiled at him… on the other hand, maybe not. Probably not, no. How could she? 

He always had lots of fun going out with her, but something had felt wrong. And by talking to Inu-yasha – damn the guy and his insight in other people! – he had been able to pinpoint the problem: they were going out as friends. And he damn well didn't only want to be her friend.

"Screw it." 

He had, of course, enjoyed the movie that Saturday. Even more so because he was seeing it with her. 

'Think I'll invite her to the party on Friday. Jinenji did say I could bring anyone I wanted. …I need to speak to Snap. He always knows what to do. It's amazing how he…'

As the thought of Snap entered his mind he spotted the very same person walking around to the back of the sports hall. Now what on earth was he doing there? That was where people usually went to make out in between lessons. 

'Has he found himself a girl at last? Without telling me? Sneaky bastard.'

Koga battled with himself for a while.

'Well, after hiding stuff like that from me, his bestest buddy, he deserves to be spied on. Er… it's also part of my job as his friend.'

He realized with a sigh that he wasn't even good at making excuses to himself. However, he did not need to make use of his spectacular spying skills – perfected over time – because at that moment Snap reappeared. This time with company. 

The company of Sango. 

She was giggling, and was very red in the face. Koga was for a few seconds too busy with being shocked and betrayed to hide, but then recovered his senses enough to duck behind a tree. He watched as Sango and Snap walked arm in arm towards him, stopping just out of hearing distance. He strained his ears and was able to pick up a few words. 

"…no one like you!" Sango exclaimed, looking up at Snap with an expression Koga couldn't read from so far off. 

"Yeah, I know, ha ha. Let's do this some other time, huh?"

Sango laughed and gave him a small shove. 

"I have to get going. You're the best." She reached up and planted a hasty kiss on Snap's cheek before running off. She twirled around after she had run some half way back to the school buildings, making a sign with her right hand and mouthing "Call me!" Snap waved and then walked in the other direction. 

And Koga still stood behind the tree, feeling as if his world had just split in half.

                                                        *************

Heh. Plot twist. I bet you can all practically _feel_ the evil grin I'm giving you here. 

Now, I do believe I have someone else to thank beside my lovely sis. Teyka, co-writing a fic with the earlier mentioned little sister of mine, pointed this out to me – without her, and all the other people who nagged at me to write fics for them, I would never have started writing at all. I used to write fics for my sister and her friends, putting them as head characters and making their favourite manga characters fall in love with them. And from there I started writing fanfiction. 

Thank you, naggers! This is Teyka, Yoko, Alissa and all you others. Hope you live happily ever after with the manga character of your choice (in my stories you do).


	11. Murphy strikes

Murphy strikes

"Yo, Koga! How are you doing?"

Sango received a look that she was sure made the temperature drop several degrees in return. She recoiled involuntarily, for some weird reason afraid of his teeth. He looked about ready to bite her, that much was clear.

"Hey, how are you feeling, man?" asked Miroku worriedly. "You're looking kind of out of it."

"Growl," said Koga, managing to imitate a wolf rather well. Impressive. 

'How could I ever have thought she could like someone like me,' he thought bitterly as he stomped past his surprised friends. 'Of course, Snap-the-disgustingly-perfect is more her type. Aargh, I was stupid enough to listen to Inu-yasha. If only I hadn't talked to him I wouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Damn them all to hell.'

He was acting stupidly and he knew it, but right now he wanted nothing more than to curl up under a blanket with a cup of nice hot coffee and feel sorry for himself. But of course he had Maths today, which meant he had to go to school. However lax Koga might be when it came to his studies, he didn't want to be kept back another year. 

He had whined to Hawk about his misery last night over the phone, not really telling him any important details, but giving him the general idea. Heartbreak. 

"Life doesn't end here, though," had been Hawk's only advice, the great pillock.

"I don't fucking care if it ends or not," Koga had snarled. "It feels as if it will, that's bad enough."

He had worked out a strategy though: he'd still go to the party on Friday, he'd get spectacularly drunk and he'd forget about it all. 

'Gotta drown my sorrows.'

                                                       **************

"What's with him?" whispered Kagome, as Koga passed them without a second glance during the lunch hour the day after. "He always sits with us usually nowadays! Why is he being so grumpy? Sango, did you do something?"

"Like what?" Sango snorted. "I guess the bubble just had to pop some day. He hasn't really changed at all since I first met him. He's still a **useless, stupid, bloody moron**!" She yelled the last words, making them reach Koga's ears and smiling grimly when he stiffened but walked on as if nothing had happened. Standing up abruptly, she slung her bag over her shoulder and marched off in the opposite direction to Koga, ignoring her friends calling after her.

'Bloody idiot, what does he think he's doing?' she asked herself. She felt hurt, in a way. They had been friends and then yesterday, hey presto! Suddenly he was giving her the cold shoulder and acting even worse than before they got to know each other. She had tried to talk to him but he had just _ignored_ her. He was being so goddamn _rude_!

Well, she didn't care about him anymore if he was going to be that way. She had other friends, it was not as if she depended on him or anything. She had known this friendship was too good – and too weird – to last. And she didn't care that she had been spending weeks finding him the perfect birthday present. She didn't care that she had searched the town, going through all his favourite stores to find something he'd like. She didn't care that she'd been desperately asking Snap for help, meeting up with him in the weirdest places – behind the sports hall, for example – just so that Koga wouldn't overhear them.

Awful lot of trouble to go through for a birthday present, now that she thought about it. 

……

Damn it all, she really liked him, didn't she.

As in really, really liked. 

Damn that Murphy. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong, that is Murphy's Law and it was sure as hell ruling her life right now. Just when she realized how much she cared for Koga, he turned weird and seemed to hate her.

'Not fair!' thought Sango hopelessly. 

                                                        *************

Koga found that each time he filled his glass up, it duplicated. 

'Hey, that's weird…' thought the part of his brain whose cells hadn't already been knocked out by the massive intake of alcohol. The fact that his mind actually registered that there were currently eight glasses where there had from the beginning only been one was impressive, however the fact that he didn't think of this as terribly odd was a sign that he was pretty far gone already. 

"Hi," said a seductive voice, gliding into his befuddled senses as smoothly as the girl who it belonged to glided into the chair next to him. "You look a bit alone."

Koga took one look behind himself, then one look on his right and one on his left. All the chairs were found to be empty, even if some of them seemed to be sprouting ears or grinning at him. He was pretty sure this was not supposed to be so, and dispelled it as hallucinations. 

"'Sright," he said, whapping his hand on the table. _"I'm all alooone, there'shh no one here beshiiiide me…" _

"Quite," said the girl, smiling slightly. "And that's a nice singing voice you've got there. But you're not alone anymore, right? Because I just came to keep you company."

Koga looked at her for a long while with the shrewd smile of someone who is not quite at his senses and who is trying to figure out if the person opposite is pulling his leg. Trying to be clever. This is not a good thing to try and be after having soaked up alcohol like a sponge for the last two hours.

"'Sright!" he exclaimed after several minutes of hard thinking. "You've got an eye fer detail, y'know that?"

The girl raised an elegant eyebrow. 

"You…_are_ Koga, aren't you?" she asked, frowning slightly as if disappointed over something. 

Koga thought for a couple of minutes more. Then his face cracked in a grin. 

"Aw, you can' pull tha' one on me! I know I'm Koga!" He smiled broadly, apparently very pleased with himself. The girl sighed and looked at his beer glass. 

"How much have you been drinking?"

"Gotta drown m'shorrows!" said Koga cheerfully, by way of answering. 

"Oh, jeez. Well, I'm Kagura, and do you want to come with me for a while? Up to the second floor? For a more…private chat." She smiled at him again, a curious, feline smile, and somehow in his foggy state of mind Koga saw and recognized one thing: she wanted him. 

'Stuff Sango.'

"Yeah, shhore."

And every person at the party watched them go.


	12. In the aftermath of the party

In the aftermath of the party

Koga woke up with a splitting headache. He sat up, grimacing and clutching his head because it felt like it might at any moment fall off, or explode. WHY was he so damn stupid? He had to work that night, too. Oh yes, that would be fun, standing there turning hamburgers with a hangover the size of Tokyo. 

"Hello," said a voice behind him. He turned, and saw a girl sitting on the side of the bed, fixing up her hair. Wearing his shirt. 

...wait a minute. _His _shirt? What was she doing there? And where was he?

"Uh," he said. Not a great conversation-starter, he admitted to himself, but his mouth hadn't really caught up with his mind yet. Or maybe it was the other way around. He wasn't sure. 

"You're at Jinenji's house," said the girl, correctly interpreting his look of general confusion. "In his guest bedroom, I believe it is." 

"Who are you? Why are you here? Why are you wearing my clothes?" asked Koga wildly, although at the same time in a distant way pleased that his oral organs had started functioning again. A brief frown of annoyance passed over the girl's face, but then she _grinned_. 

"Whoa, seems you were even more pissed that I thought, if that's humanly possible. Once again then: I'm Kagura. I'm wearing your shirt because it's rather cold today and my dress is not what you'd call warming." She stood up and twirled around, displaying the short, tight and very revealing dress she wore underneath his shirt. It had a curious pattern of fans. "As for the reason I'm here with you... well, _do_ try to use your brain for once, why don't you?" She blew him a kiss and walked out of the door, leaving him to put two and two together. When he had thought for a while he arrived at four. 

"Oh shit," he groaned, putting his head in his hands. 

                                                        *************

"I can't believe that."

"Well, it's true. I heard it from Jili, who was at Jinenji's party. I know it's true."

Sango turned her head, looking away from the earnest face of her classmate Cherry, who was the prime spreader of gossip in the school. She knew everything about everyone, and everything that had happened everywhere. She knew what everyone had done, and how they had done it, and why. She knew things about people they didn't know themselves. She even knew some things that hadn't really happened. 

'He slept with _Kagura_?!' 

Sango _couldn't believe_ it. That wasn't like Koga!

"Actually, it is rather like Koga," said Kagome sadly when Sango ran this past her. "Koga as he used to be, anyway. He used to be different from how he is now. He's changed a lot."

"Since when?"

"Since he met Kagome," said Miroku. "And even more since he got to know you. But I don't know what's been wrong with him lately."

"But Inu-yasha's been a lot with him in the last week," said Sango, turning to Kagome. "Doesn't he – "

"It's a bit rocky right now," Kagome interrupted. "I'm not talking to Inu-yasha that much at the moment." She stood up abruptly and walked away, much in the same way her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend? Perhaps-boyfriend? – did when he was upset about something. Sango looked helplessly at Miroku.

"Why do all the relationships suddenly _fall apart_?"

"I know what you mean," Miroku sighed. "I just decided I'm straight and broke up with Mark. ...Nah, just kidding," he added as Sango stared. 

"I'm fine, which means that I can take care of all my friends' problems. Convenient, hey. Now, what's this about relationships? Apart from Kagome and Inu-yasha's, I don't see any relationships in the danger zone."

"Well, no, it's not as if it's a _relationship_..." said Sango awkwardly, seemingly finding her feet very interesting. "But I just realized I really like Koga, and I guess I was sort of imagining he liked me too. And then this happens – he is so cold all of a sudden, and now this with Kagura! I mean she's the skankiest girl in school!"

"Pretty good though, by Koga's standards," said Miroku thoughtfully. Then he saw Sango's look of disgust. "Er, just kidding." He reached out and gave her a hug. 

"I'm sure it will be alright, sweetie. Just ignore him for a while and think about what you want. Or do the brave thing and talk to him. Either way, it'll work itself out somehow."

Sango squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head against Miroku. She wanted to thank him – for being so kind and for always knowing what to do...

"Miroku...?"

"Yes?"

"Take your hand off my butt please."

"Oops."

...so she didn't beat him senseless. That counted as thanks, didn't it?

                                                        *************

Two weeks passed, even worse than before they had become friends, for some weird reason. Sango found that she could not even look at Koga without wanting to strike him so hard he'd wear the mark for a month. How could he be such an unbelievable bastard? How could he lead her to believe that he enjoyed her company and liked her, and then just decide that he never wanted to see her again, regardless of how much this might hurt her? And hook up with another girl only days after?

'Thoughtless idiot! Bet he was really just playing around, seeing how far he could get with me or something!'

Koga couldn't understand why she was so angry at him – it wasn't as if she'd care about anything he did, was it? She had her Snap, didn't she? The two of them were spending an uncanny lot of time together, but Sango usually looked upset or mad rather than happy. 

'Good, they probably hate each other already,' thought Koga with satisfaction. He didn't wish any luck to that relationship. 

"This can't go on," said Miroku one day. He and Kagome were sitting together during a break in classes, in which Sango had stayed behind in the Art classroom to finish a painting. 

"It sure can't. Have you seen the way the dodge around each other?" asked Kagome. 

"Of course I have. I'm in the same P.E. group as them. Sesshoumaru made them partner each other during the last lesson, because they were the only ones who'd done judo before. They hardly _touched_ each other, and we're talking _judo_ here. You know, the pyjama sport where you walk around in circles hugging your opponent," Miroku said, not bothering to point out that Kagome and Inu-yasha were behaving very similarly around each other. 

"Didn't Sesshoumaru do something about it?"

"Sesshoumaru didn't notice. He was too busy having one of those silent rows with Inu-yasha."

"You mean where they stare at each other for twenty minutes and then start making snide comments about the other's mother?"

"Exactly."

"Never has a divorce caused so much trouble."

"Anyway, back to Sango. What shall we do?"

"...with the drunken sailor, what shall we do with the..."

"I get the feeling you're not being entirely serious."

"I just don't know what to do," said Kagome, looking very upset. It was, Miroku reflected, hard to care about people like Kagome did – you were always feeling sad for others. So caught up in the troubles of your friends that you didn't have time for yourself.

"I mean, how are we supposed to achieve this? Make them friends again? Last time it took months for them just to stop thinking of switchblades as soon as they came within a hundred-metre radius of each other."

"I think they just need to talk to each other to fix this up," said Miroku slowly. "I can't help but feel there's some huge misunderstanding at the bottom of this that needs to be cleared up for them to become friends again. Beats me if I can figure it out though. And I don't have a clue of how to make them talk to each other, short of locking them in a small room for hours and letting nature run its course."

"But we have to do _something_," said Kagome desperately. "I can't stand seeing Sango so unhappy!"

"She looks pissed off rather than unhappy, if you ask me," observed Miroku. "But it's starting to tick me off, too. So we'll give it a week, right, and come up with lots of nice matchmaking ideas. And also... you promise me you'll talk to Inu-yasha, OK?"

"Yeah, yeah," muttered Kagome, waving a hand vaguely. "But firstly, I'll talk to Sango and you talk to Koga of you can. Try the man-to-man talk. You've practiced it a lot on Inu-yasha, I know, so I figure you're an expert now, right?"

"Are you mocking me?"

"Darling, I would never dream of mocking you."

"Good."

"I never dream of the daily occurrences in my life."


	13. Boy talk

Boy talk

As Miroku walked to his History class he saw Sango and Snap coming out of the Art classroom together, talking animatedly about HB-pencils. He smiled at the scene; the two of them had become such good friends, too, after Sango got to know Koga. The had started spending even more time together now after Koga and Sango stopped speaking. Miroku frowned. Something hovered at the back of his mind, something he felt was important...

"Snap, do you know why Koga doesn't speak to Sango?" he asked, after falling in step with them and chatting aimlessly for a while. 

"Not a clue." Snap shrugged. "I figured it was just a spell of bad temper. He hasn't been speaking to me, either."

There it was! He knew something had looked off the last time he had seen the three friends – Koga, Snap and Hawk – together the last time. Koga had kept throwing these dirty looks in Snap's direction and hadn't said a word to him. 

Miroku wasn't stupid. Well, not very stupid. He was sure there was a connection, and he sat all History lesson busying his little brain to find a solution. He hardly heard what the teacher was saying about Archimedes (it didn't really matter, he'd already read the chapter). 

Then he got it.

"Eureka!" he shouted out loud, standing up abruptly. The entire class stared at him.

"Correct," said the teacher, looking surprised and suspicious. "He shouted Eureka. It was a very... er... nice reconstruction, Miroku. Wait, where are you going? Oh, never mind..."

Miroku ran through the corridors of the school. With a little luck Koga would be here already, shooting hoops or something in the Sports hall. He might not care about school in general, but he certainly cared about sports.

Murphy or whatever god there might be up there was with him today. Koga was hanging upside down in a pair of Olympic rings, seemingly philosophizing. He didn't even notice when Miroku walked in. 

"Keep that up and you'll end up with an even more swollen head than before."

Koga's eyes slid into focus again and he shook his head before regarding Miroku with a sheepish smile. 

"Sorry, zoned out for a bit."

"Thinking about Sango?" Koga's eyes narrowed dangerously and his smile disappeared from his face. Miroku wondered if it had been a bad move to be so straightforward. 

"Why are you so mad at her?" he asked quickly. "Actually, change that: Why are you so mad at Snap?"

Koga, who had opened his mouth to answer the first question, left it open. Miroku could see his question had caught the other boy off guard. 

'Bingo!' he thought.

"I can see it's related. You stopped speaking to Snap just at the same time you stopped speaking to Sango. What's he done? Or what do you _think_ he's done?"

"I don't know why I should tell you," said Koga haughtily. 

"Because I care a lot about you. No, not in that way," Miroku said as he caught the funny look. "I'd just like both you and Sango to be happy, and neither of you is very happy right now."

"That's cute."

"Thank you."

"But I don't see why Sango should be unhappy about anything. She acts like I've been an incredible bastard, but I don't understand why she should care about anything I do. I mean, it's not as if we're married or anything. She has Snap, after all, and they're just oh-so-disgustingly-cute together." Koga spat out the last words with venom, looking angry and upset.

Miroku took a deep breath. This was exactly what he had suspected. A misunderstanding of huge magnitude. 

"First, come down from those rings, OK? You're starting to become rather red in the face. And then I'm going to clear some things up for you. It's amazing how much shit starts when you don't talk to people."

After Koga had come down to ground level again and got some of the blood back into his legs, Miroku proceeded to tell him how completely wrong he had been about Snap and Sango. 

"So they're _not_ a couple?"

"No."

"God, I feel like such an idiot."

"Justifiably so."

"Don't you patronize me. I don't need it, I know I've behaved stupidly."

"Got that right, at least. Jesus." Miroku shook his head. "So can you tell me what happened between you and the Kagura girl? Word has it she's a bit of a – "

"Yeah, I know," said Koga in the dead tones of someone who just realized for the first time just _how_ much he regrets something. "I have no idea of what happened. One second I was having my third vodka, the next I woke up feeling as if I'd been sat on by an elephant. I have no idea of what I did in between. I have my guesses though."

"Like the rest of the world. How could you, honestly? That girl's the talk of the school!"

"I didn't even know she went to our school. I'd never seen the girl before! It was a bit of a shock to find her in same room as me when I woke up..." Koga suddenly frowned, remembering something important. "Hey! She stole my shirt, the bitch! Er, but maybe that's not very important... er, no," he added as Miroku stared coolly at him. "Oh jeez... I've really behaved like an idiot, haven't I?" 

"Yes," said Miroku firmly. "Sango was in a right state about it."

"I don't know if I can ever speak to her again," mumbled Koga, looking very deliberately away from Miroku. "We have just been so mean to each other these last weeks. I don't know if either of us can get over that. You know, I don't believe there is anyone in the entire world who can be as cruel as her."

Miroku said nothing, just smiled. Now when he had Koga's side of the story it was suddenly easier to know where to start working. He had a sudden vision of two young people locked in a room together, forced to speak with each other and clear things up. He grinned, devilishly. Ooh, this was going to be fun. 

                                                           *************

Hello! This was originally part of a very, very long chapter that I was going to post as chapter thirteen. However, since I am so incredibly evil (and since I don't want this story to end so soon) I cut it up in three smaller parts and am now posting them as three separate chapters. Ha, ha and ha! (I am giving you an evil smirk here. For best effect, imagine me with vampire fangs.) 

You know what? I broke my own record in terms of amount of chapters in a story. Cool hey. You know what more? I'm past fifty reviews.

What are you people, crazy? (Read: Thank you. I never thought so many would review.)

**Teyka dearie:** You know what? If the suspense is killing you... it's because it's meant to be! Bwaha! 

**To d@rkpride, Ami and Skitzoflame:** It makes me happy to have your reviews dropping in regularly. You keep reading my story! You're faithful! _Wow_! (...if I'm getting carried away here, put it down to too little sleep and too much samba. 'Scuse me.)

**To Skitzoflame only:** Hello. We're talking Miroku here. You think I'm going to give him an idea and then not let him follow up on it? Not on your life, dearie. 

**To LiL:.CaT:.AnImE:** I had to rewrite your name thrice before I got it right. All those capital letters and things... You never thought of calling yourself something easier? Like LS74911-2B or something? (Nothing against your name or anything, that's not what I mean. Do not take me seriously, I'm not a very serious person.) Since you asked, Sango is indeed my favourite character. On the other hand, so is Miroku. And Kanna. And Sesshoumaru, Kaede and Yura. My favourite character changes constantly, depending on how they act and what they say. I'll read something and I'll go, "Oooh, that was _so cocky_. He is my favourite character." Then I'll change my mind two pages later, because another character just said something even cooler. At the moment I'm rather fond of Goshinki – he can read minds and I think he's rather sweet. (This is largely because I'm making him rather sweet in a fanfic I might be putting up soon – I am so biased.) But I think Sango is an interesting character, and I like her. Lots. She's got a lot of attitude, and she's just such a strong person. Also, I like doing things that are not exactly standard – the old "Miroku loves Sango, Inu-yasha loves Kagome" tends to get boring if you don't spice it up a bit. - Did I veer off track now or what. Thanks for reading the story, please keep doing so even if I might seem like I ought to be in a straight-jacket when I'm writing these stupid P.S. things or whatever you want to call it. 

**To purplepeopleeater:** Thank you for the laws of Murphy. Here's one of my own favourites: "When you think you see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is really just the headlamps of the oncoming train." Are you _purplepeopleeater_ as in "hello, I am purple and I eat people" or as in "hello, I eat purple people"? Just wondering.

**To BlackX:** All will be revealed. More or less.

**To, well, all you other reviewers:** Can't think of anything intelligent to say. (And I'm thinking that's out of the ordinary?) You know you rock, don't you? Thank you. I would bow down to you for taking an interest in the fic, but my back is killing me. Aw whatever. It's the thought that counts.


	14. Girl talk

Girl talk

Kagome took Sango out to their favourite café the day after. She had considering holding this conversation by phone, but decided against it. She wanted, no _needed_, to see her friend's expressions. She didn't know how to start though. Thankfully, Sango started for her.

"You want to talk to me about Koga, right?"

Kagome decided to try the innocent act. Well, it always worked for her teachers. 

"What? No, no, not at all! I just wanted to meet and talk about, you know, anything and not about Koga at all, I didn't have it my mind..." She hesitated. Sango was made of rather sterner stuff than the teachers. "Er... Actually... yes. I want to talk about Koga. Why are you both being idiots?"

"_We _are not being idiots. _He_ is being an idiot." You could have cut diamonds with Sango's voice. Well alright, maybe not diamonds, but certainly most of the lesser gems. 

"Would you like to elaborate that?" asked Kagome, flipping open her notebook and fishing a pen out of her bag. 

"He gives me the cold shoulder for I don't know what. He's just made me realize how very, very much we _don't_ have in common. He's such a sonofabitch. I can't believe I actually considered a relationship with him once. Don't know what I was thinking about, 'cos it would _never_ work. (Not to mention what my father would have said, now that I think about it.)"

"I think it would though," said Kagome softly. "You like him, don't you? And I'm sure he likes you. That's enough, isn't it?"

"But we just _fight_ all the time! It wouldn't hold a week. Can you really build something on such a lot of fights? Can you really make it work?"

"Of course. Inu-yasha and I did." Sango started when she realized what she had just heard and looked at her friend, who was gazing out of the window. She _never_ talked about this! 

"I guess I can tell you..." Kagome continued, in a faraway voice. "It's nothing special, really. I was working at this shop, owned by an old lady I know, Kaede's her name, during the summer holidays one year. It's in the bad end of town, and every afternoon I had to take the money we had made during the day to the bank. It wasn't fun, I tell you, everyone knew what I was doing and there were lots of people there who wanted to rob me... or do even worse things..." Kagome shivered involuntarily. "Anyway, Inu-yasha was one of these. I first met him when he dropped down on me from a roof and tried to take the money from me."

"What did you do?" asked Sango breathlessly. She made a mental note to beat the crap out of Inu-yasha one day, to make him atone for past sins – i.e. robbery attempts.

"Kicked him in the balls and ran," said Kagome. Sango scratched the mental note, feeling that the poor guy got his punishment and more besides. "Then the next afternoon when I came out from the shop he was there waiting for me. I was scared as hell but Kaede just said she had assigned him to be a kind of guard for me, against the thugs. I tried to tell her he was just as bad himself, but she just laughed. She seems to have this sort of weird power over him. He was good anyway, protecting me against all I could meet, but he didn't do it gladly. In the beginning he just _hated_ me. We fought all the time. I look a lot like his ex, too, and that didn't exactly help matters. I, meanwhile, thought he was the most stupid guy I'd ever met. I'd never have imagined that I'd one day be together with him. Also, I was going out with Hojo at the time."

"Hojo?!"

"Yeah... that didn't last long, as you can imagine. And then something changed between me and Inu-yasha..." She trailed off. 

"That isn't the entire story, is it?" asked Sango.

"It's all you need to know," smiled Kagome. "I know me and Inu-yasha might not be the best example, as we at the moment are not doing very well, you know... But we show that it's not impossible to build a relationship on fights, at least."

"Why are you fighting? Do you think it will be alright?" Sango wanted to do something to help her friend in return, but she didn't know what.

"It's between me and him," Kagome answered, then laughed when she saw Sango's exasperated look. "Sorry, I know it feels like me and Inu-yasha keep everything secret just to vex you, but it's just the way we both are. Our private life is, well, _private_. And I know you and Miroku spy on us anyway, so you already know more than you're supposed to. Anyway, I think you and Koga should talk it out with each other, because you are so cute together."

"I know you think that, you've told me numerous times." Sango sighed. "But I don't know... he can just be so thoughtless, and stupid, and stuck-up, and... I don't know if it's a good idea. The last two weeks he's behaved like a complete jerk, for example. And then he slept with Kagura! I mean, what was he thinking about?! She is such a _whore_! Sleeping around like some kind of I don't know what! I thought he – "

"I must say I don't appreciate that."

The silence that followed, when Sango turned around and saw Kagura standing behind her, was one of the longest in her life. She wanted to just wither and die. How could she have said something so mean? Kagura didn't look as if she even cared, wearing the same haughty face as always, but Sango was certain she was upset and angry inside. She sure would be if she'd heard someone say something like that about her. 

"Er..." said Sango. "Er, sorry... god, I don't know how to..."

"Buy me an ice-cream and we'll be quits," said Kagura, dropping into the seat next to her. "I get it all the time, have to get used to it after a while. I'm living my life as I want it, but it tends to attract all this _negative_ attention. I must get one thing straight though – I do not accept payment, so as for the "whore" insult, it's untrue."

Sango stared. Either this girl was a very good actress, or she was the most thick-skinned person she had ever met. 

"A-are you sure you don't hate me for what I said?" she asked. "I'm really sorry, I let my temper run away with me. It's not you I'm angry at, actually, but this guy..."

"Koga? Good-looking chap with too much hair? I know why. But if you'd just hear the entire story... hang on, you _are_ going to treat me to an ice-cream, right? It's the least I can expect as a sorry."

"Sure..." said Sango, feeling dazed. She could see by the look on Kagome's face that her friend was just as confused. 

"OK, good," said Kagura, flashing her a smile. "Hey waitress! A chocolate sundae, thank you. On this girl here. What's your name by the way?" 

The last was said to Sango, who introduced herself and Kagome hastily. 

"Right, Sango, you like this guy, I take it?"

"It's not – " Sango began and was interrupted by Kagome. 

"Yes. She does."

"Right. 'Cos it was like this – I'd heard a thing or two about him, and was getting interested to meet him in person. And then I heard he was at Jinenji's party. Jinenji, you know, the big guy who plays rugby, got the body of a bloody thug but the heart of an angel? His party, anyway, I was there and heard that Koga was there too, and that he was single. So I decided to take the chance when I had it. But the trouble was, the guy was stoned. Could hardly get a word out of him."

"Hey wait a minute!" Sango exclaimed, blushing slightly. "People all over the school are saying you slept with him!"

"Well, they would think that, wouldn't they?" Kagura raised her elegant eyebrows. "It's the natural assumption when it comes to me. Of course, it was also what I was hoping to get." (At this point Sango blushed furiously.) "But Koga wasn't very receptive. Actually, he fell asleep and the only thing I got was his shirt. _Nice_ shirt, though."

"But why didn't you contradict all the rumours then?" asked Kagome.

"Why should I?" Kagura frowned as if the idea was completely strange to her.

"Why didn't _Koga_ contradict the stories?"

"Probably because he couldn't remember a thing. When I say he was stoned, I'm not kidding. I haven't seen anyone so unbelievably drunk before. He said something about drowning his sorrows – that was about the last coherent sentence I could get out of him. Ooh, here's my sundae. Will you stay and keep me company while I eat it?"

"Yeah, of course," smiled Kagome. "Two more sundaes like that please! And I'm paying for these ones."

It was the Kagome spirit playing up again – caring for others and being able to take to a person immediately, despite what that person might seem like. She and Kagura where soon chatting on like old mates, talking about music, graduation and the proper length of skirts. Kagura seemed entirely at ease with the other girl. People usually did. And Sango found that once she was able to look past the fact that Kagura had almost seduced (ooh, dorky word) her Koga, she was a nice person. 

"Her" Koga? She didn't just think that. It was probably Kagome, invading her brain and changing her thought patterns. 

"Oops, I have to get going. Gotta meet Naraku. It's been nice chatting to you!" Kagura stood up and straightened out her skirt. Kagome suddenly looked worried. 

"Naraku? Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"Of course." Kagura grinned. "I know people think he's a dangerous lunatic and a gangster, and they're entirely right, too. But I kind of like him. We've got things in common. We laugh at the same jokes. We both care about the gang. And also... he's my brother." She winked cheekily, gave them a short wave and left, humming "Bad boys running wild". Kagome stared after her, looking shell-shocked.

"Kagome, who's Naraku?" asked Sango, feeling more new-in-town than she had for a long while. 

"Just this town's most famous – or should I say _in_famous? – gangster," said Kagome slowly, disbelief etched in her every feature. Then she started laughing. "Oh, that I never saw it before! They really look a lot alike!"

"How come I never hear of these dangerous guys?" asked Sango sulkily, feeling left out.

"You live in the wrong area, darling."

"So do you."

"But I _move_ in the bad areas. I hang out with Inu-yasha all the time... well, used to hang out..." Kagome stopped grinning and looked sad instead. Sango reached out and took her hand.

"And will do again, believe me. You two are made for each other. You just need a little time away from each other to realize that. You're just being bullheaded and you know it."

"Coming from you, I find that a bit rich." Kagome grinned again. Sango looked nonplussed. 

"I don't get it. When have I been bullheaded?"

"...Never mind." Kagome smiled softly to herself as her friend started questioning her about when she had been bullheaded. She could be a bit dense at times, the dear Sango. Dense and bullheaded and short-tempered, but dear all the same. And perfect for Koga, of course. 

What a great girl that Kagura was, when you got down to it! And now Kagome knew what had really happened at that wretched party, and this made it easier to know what to do. Her smile changed, becoming rather more devilish. She just needed to talk to Miroku now and then they'd have this thing in the bag. Ooh, this was really going to be fun. 

                *************

**Teyka**** dearie:** If you didn't have the suspense, what good would this story be, really? Sheez, youths nowadays, you're so impatient. However, here's a few hints: **1)** I'm a true romantic **2)** I believe in happy endings (OK... so Unwanted Visitor is the exception that proves the rule) **3)** If you reeeeeally can't stand it, whine to Yoko instead. She has slightly less endurance, and might crack and tell you everything if you threaten her with something like "I'll force-feed you Japanese jellyfish snacks if you don't tell me."

**purplepeopleeater****: **You can spell, _and_ you love Ginta! I like you! *hug!*

**LiL:.CaT:.AnImE:** Is that a compliment? Me being in a straight-jacket, I mean. :) (I take it as a compliment anyway. After all, Einstein was a loony, wasn't he?)

**All reviewers:** Simply thanks. 


	15. Clearing up

Clearing up

It was Thursday, and Sango was walking from her last lesson that day, Maths. She had been trying to decide whether to talk to Koga or let him go on being an idiot. She had just decided that she should at least say sorry for turning up her nose at him for the last couple of weeks or so, when she thought he'd actually done... well... _that_ with Kagura. No sooner had she arrived at this mature and kind decision (Sango thought), than Kagome appeared by her side, beaming like a small sun.

"Got something to show you! Come on!"

Sango found that she was being led down to the school's cellars. She tried repetitively to ask Kagome what was going on, but the younger girl just laughed and evaded the question. Sango was getting rather a bad feeling from this.

"Here we are!" said Kagome cheerfully, after a long walk. "Go in before me!" She gestured towards an open door. Sango walked in and looked around her doubtfully. The room was rather small, and...

"But Kagome, this is just a storage room of some..."

**BAM****!** The door slammed behind her and she could hear the lock turn. 

"Kagome?" asked Sango, trying the handle and then hitting the door hard when she found it would not turn. "Kagome, what the hell are you thinking about?! Let me out right now! What do you think you're doing?!! Open the freaking door!"

"Whoa, take it easy darling. Wait for a while and you will see what we want with this."

Sango could hear Kagome whistling as she ran off, and cursed her friends. What were they scheming now? After a long while she thought she could hear footsteps nearing. She got up and walked to the door, ready to run out if it opened. They couldn't just lock her in like that, cocky little bastards!

The door opened but before she could get out someone was shoved onto her and the door was slammed behind them. Losing their balance, both she and the new "prisoner" fell helplessly, landing on the floor in a flurry of arms and legs. 

"MIROKU YOU FUCKING GREAT IDIOT, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??!!" yelled Koga, then noticed who he was on top off and scrambled off mighty fast. For a while he and Sango looked stupidly at each other, then both turned away and looked at something else. On the other side of the door someone giggled.

"They tricked you too, I take it?" asked Sango, feeling her cheeks heating up.

"Yeah," muttered Koga. "Miroku said he wanted to talk to me and then he led me here. Stupid as I am I did not see anything weird in that."

They were silent for a while, then Sango decided that she might as well get it over and done with.

"Sorry," she said. "I just wanted to say that. For being so cold to you after I heard the rumours about you and Kagura... you know... I talked to her today and she said you didn't do anything after all."

"We didn't?" Koga looked surprised.

"Don't you remember _anything_?" 

"Er, no." Koga smiled sheepishly. "I only know she took my shirt. And I liked that shirt! But wait, that isn't important. Why were you so angry about it?"

"Um... Er... I guess because it was just such a goddamn stupid thing to do."

'COWARD!!!' shouted Sango's inner voice, but she ignored it. She damn well wasn't going to own up to how she felt before she could be sure he wouldn't laugh in her face. With the way he had been behaving for the last couple of weeks, that wouldn't surprise her. 

"I guess I have to say sorry too..." Koga hesitated. "For how I've behaved to you. I was upset because I thought... uh... well... shit, I'm an idiot... Sango, are you and Snap a couple or not?"

"WHAT?!" said Sango, staring at him. "What on earth made you think that?"

"I thought... uh... well, I saw you coming out from behind the Sports hall together, and you were laughing and blushing, and then you told him to call you, so I just sort of assumed that..."

"People talk on the phone with each other without being a couple for chrissake! I call Kagome too!" Sango was getting rather irritated. Was this why he had avoided her for weeks?! "And the reason I met up with Snap there was that he had helped me find a birthday present for _you_! Bloody hell, you've been acting like I'm rabid for the last couple of weeks! And why? Because you thought I was together with Snap? What the hell is your _problem_?!"

"Don't you get it?" 

Since when was Koga so close to her? Suddenly he was sitting right in front of her, his hands resting on either side of her hips, his face inches from hers. She could almost feel his breath on her face. Her heart was thumping, she was sure he could hear it.

"I was jealous," said Koga quietly, locking her gaze with his. "I wanted to be that person, to be to you what I thought Snap was. There's no one I care about as much as you. I think... that I love you."

Koga suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to kiss her. He realized that this was what he'd been wanting to do since the first time he saw her during P.E. – this girl who was so unlike anyone he'd known before. As he started to lean towards her, her eyelids slowly fluttered close. He had never seen her look more beautiful...

A resounding **WHAP!** echoed through the storage room. Koga jumped back as if he had been slapped, which in fact he had. 

"Do you expect me to believe that?" asked Sango coolly.

On the other side of the door, Kagome and Miroku flinched as they heard the contact of hand against cheek. 

"Whose idea was it to lock them in a small room and let nature run its course?" groaned Miroku, putting his hands over his face. 

"I think it was yours."


	16. And then

And then...

Miroku and Kagome unlocked the door before Sango had time to inflict any more damage on Koga. Unfortunately this made the later two focus their anger on their so-called jailers instead. After hitting them repetitively Sango and Koga stomped off, leaving their friends to mourn over their matchmaking-gone-terribly-wrong.

When they came up from the cellars a quarter of an hour later, they found Koga and Sango kissing, supported by the wall. 

A year later the pair had broken up fifty-six times and got back together just as many. Sango's father accepted Koga without too much trouble, first muttering a lot about young hooligans with loud cars, but after a while taking the young hooligan in question to his bosom – after he found out that Koga played rugby, a sport he had himself been rather fond of in his young years. 

Sango was by then a full-time fan of Koga's rugby team. 

Kagome and Inu-yasha spent several months apart and then decided they could not bear it, became _friends_ and promised never to fight again. They were both currently single, trying to ignore the less-than-subtle (in Miroku's case the more-than-obvious) hints dropped by their friends about who else was also available at the moment. Sango didn't know if this was because they had realized that they could simply not be together, or if it was because they'd prefer to settle it by themselves. Their private lives were, after all, _private_. 

Shippou graduated with moderate marks in everything but Art, in which he excelled, to no one's surprise. By the time Koga and Sango had their one-year anniversary, he had moved to Paris and was just setting up his first big exhibition.

Hojo disappeared for five months, finally sending a postcard telling them that he had by mistake followed the exchange students back to Brazil.

Snap found himself a girl to spend some time behind the Sports hall with at last. Thankfully, this was not Sango. Koga made doubly sure by spying on his friend until he was discovered and thrown into the school's swimming pool. Hawk, meanwhile, went to have his mohawk hairdo changed as he found it out of style, and ended up dating the hairdresser. He admitted to Koga that he found the constant "La?" very sexy. 

Kagura dropped out of school when Naraku was taken by the police, to become a fulltime gangster. Three weeks after she took over the gang it had become the best organized and most feared gang in that part of the world. Rumours had it she had also settled down and was finally going steady, with a rugby player in Koga's team. However, Jinenji just blushed and refused to answer when asked about the truth in this.

A posh Armani shirt arrived in Koga's mailbox one afternoon, with a note that said "guess it's about time I return the favour". The day after, the robbery of the local Armani store was all over the news. 

Sesshoumaru decided that Inu-yasha's mother wasn't so bad after all, after she had helped him baby-sit Rin and the two of them had taken to each other at once. 

Principal Higurashi decided that he needed a long, long holiday, and resigned his post at the end of the school year. The new principal decided that what the school needed was to be dragged out of this slum of non-rules and proceeded to reorganize it completely. She left a week into the new term in hysterics. After that the school was run even more than before by the students, the principal having in truth been only a decoration while he was still at the school. 

                                                        *************

"It's been a very cute boy-meets-girl-and-they-live-happily-ever-after-story," said Miroku, stirring his coffee absentmindedly and looking out into the distance. 

"You get paid to carry the coffee out to customers, not to drink it yourself," Mark commented, whisking the cup away from Miroku's hands.

"It's all because of me they got together at last, you know. The idea about locking them in a room together was the best I've had in my entire life."

"Yes, I _know_," grinned Mark, setting down a tray with coffee cups and plates of cake beside his boyfriend. "This goes to table three."

"Remind me again why I decided to take up this job with you," sighed Miroku, lifting the tray with some difficulty. 

"Because you love the uniform?"

"Shut up." Miroku plastered a smile on his face and walked out into the café. After a while he returned, scowling. "Some idiot tried seriously to hit on me."

"Just tell the guy you're not interested."

"It was a _girl_. Aw, all my friends get happy endings and I'm stuck here in this dump with you. And none of the girls are even remotely pretty, and the ones that are think I'm straight and try to chat me up. What is a guy supposed to do? What is a gay supposed to do, for that matter?"

"Sucks to be you," Mark smiled. "Shall I make it better by inviting you over for dinner tonight? I'm cooking." He blushed slightly, and seemed unsure of how to go on. "Also, I was thinking the other day... Where are you going to live when you graduate in half a year?"

Miroku gave him a long look.

"Well, your place. Where do you think?"

Mark smiled. The simple answer had told him all he needed to know, what they never talked about but got across to each other anyway: Miroku loved him, just as he loved Miroku. He reached towards the other boy, gently running his hands through his hair and messing up his ponytail completely. And for once, Miroku didn't give a toss about his hair.

"Miroku, if you don't get your ass out there in two minutes I'm going to tell Mark all about what you did to Koharu when you still thought you liked girls," growled Koga five minutes later, bursting in through the door and not looking at all fazed when he found the two of them with their arms around each other. "And I don't care that you're kissing! That's not what you're paid for! Get a move on!" He stomped out again, slamming the door pointedly. 

"You know," Mark sighed, "sometimes I wonder if it was a good idea to introduce your friends to this café."

"Technically they're good guys," said Miroku, although he looked a bit doubtful.

They stood in silence for a while, neither actually wanting to let go. 

"Hey," said Mark finally, "do you think he'll be terribly angry if he has to wait for a while longer?"

"Yeah…" answered Miroku slowly. Then his face cracked in a grin. "But I think I'll risk it." 

THE END.

                                                           *************

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a COMPLETED STORY! (Are there any gentlemen out there, by the way? Just wondering.) Thank you all for your support and/or critic. Both are appreciated, the first more than the second mentioned...

Sorry for the nasty cliffhanger in the last chapter... couldn't resist it.:) A final twist before Sango gave in and admitted her own feelings. She just _had_ to make him suffer for a bit, didn't she? (Evil girl.)

I regret to tell all the curious people out there that you will not find out anything more about Inu-yasha and Kagome's relationship. I leave something to your own imagination. Or maybe I'll write a sequel. (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. That will never happen.) 

Todeloo people!


End file.
